ISLAND LIVING: INDIA HICKS

I have forever been in love with the style of India Hicks’s home and island life.

India Hicks is the daughter of famed interior designer David Hicks and Lady Pamela Hicks, India was named in honour of her maternal grandfather, the Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the last Viceroy to India, who served until the country received independence in 1947. Goddaughter of the Prince of Wales, and also his second cousin, India was one of the bridesmaids at his wedding to Lady Diana.

You are designer, author, entrepreneur, mother of five. What is the secret to a successfully balanced life?
The secret is there is no secret. Sometimes it’s a little more balanced than other times, sometimes a little more successful, only rarely am I successfully balanced. But I am highly organized, and I don’t watch much TV!

How has your father influenced your work?
He was bold and decisive, he was individual, he never followed a trend, he designed homes, not houses, and he set the decorating world alight with his ideas. His work has certainly influenced me, I obsess over table scapes (a word he is said to have coined), I would never shy away from covering a sofa in shocking pink or fire engine red, I love mixing old and new, but I don’t have the courage he had, I don’t have the fearless relationship to color he enjoyed, I don’t have the guts to be governed entirely by geometric patterns. Everything my father did, he did with conviction.

Given your lineage, was it difficult to find your own voice in design?
For many years I shied away from design and decoration. My father was considered one of the world’s leading talents, my brother was an accomplished architect, my sister-in-law a fashion designer, how could I find my own voice when there were already so many? Moving to The Bahamas allowed me to begin a new life, one entirely of my own, a blank canvas upon which I could paint my own story.

What is your design motto? What makes good design?
My father always said: ‘Decorating is the art of accentuating the best and covering up the worst’.

Who do you design for?
I design for me, whether it be a fragrance or candle, a bedding collection or a piece of jewelry, I design for me. I want to be sure the sheets I design I will also sleep on, the jewelry I create I love….

What was the height of your career so far?
I’ve a long way to go before I’ve reached the height, but one of the craziest periods was hosting a reality design TV show whilst breastfeeding. That took a little bit of juggling.

You’ve distilled your Harbour Island style into jewelry, accessories, clothing, beauty products and homeware. What’s next? 
Oh so much, but right now I am training for a 100 mile bike race, raising money for breast cancer awareness in The Bahamas. Something I take seriously. Our foster child’s mother died of breast cancer.

Any beauty tips?
Lots of water, lots of green juice, lots of chocolate. But above all, I exercise. Find that hour for yourself. It’s so important. Whether it’s a walk in the park, a jog on the beach, a bike ride in the countryside, try to stay motivated.

Credit: Classiq