Nicky Haslam’s Biography
Nicky Haslam’s greatest legacy is his undeniable talent and influence as Britain’s ultimate interior designer. In his spare time he is also known as a socialite, artist, cabaret singer, book reviewer, art editor, memoirist and literary editor and he features on both Vanity Fair and GQ’s best-dressed lists.
The Haslam aesthetic has been magnetising design cognoscenti around the world since 1972 when he first started practicing as interior designer. In the late 1980’s Haslam founded his London-based architectural and design firm, NH Design now called Nicky Haslam Studio. The firm is established as one of the most important luxury interior design offices in the United Kingdom, known for high-end design, bespoke furnishings and a style that is ever changing with the times, yet always distinguishable for its humour, charm and wit - much like Haslam himself. Under his guidance, his creative team combines a unique sense of history with a modern contemporary outlook and the firm works on projects all over the globe including the English countryside and London, New York, Morocco, New Orleans, Denmark, Montreal, Barbados, Monaco and Moscow, South of France, Mallorca, Los Angeles and Paris.
Nicky Haslam Studio has created select offices, restaurants, retail environments and residences for high profile and celebrity clientele including names like Mick Jagger, Bryan Ferry, Rod Stewart, Ringo Starr, Charles Saatchi and Rupert Everett. Haslam also designed the décors for some of the ritziest parties of our age: the Opera Ball in Hong Kong and events for the Prince and Princess of Wales, Lord Rothschild, Simon and Jennifer Murray, Sir Evelyn and Lady de Rothschild, the Cartier Polo gala lunches at Windsor, a candle-lit dinner at the State Apartments in Kensington Palace as well as a National Gallery banquet. The Nicky Haslam Studio visual signature has been placed on a nightclub formerly in the Dorchester Hotel London, the salons for the dress designers Bellville-Sassoon and The Emanuels (the dress makers responsible for Lady Diana’s wedding dress) and the Lichfield suite at the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong.
While at school at Eton, Haslam excelled in art. Today, some of his interior watercolour renderings – created based on select interior design projects - are held by the Victoria and Albert Museum as well as The Royal Institute of British Architects and command high prices at auction. His opinion and expertise as a creative writer are consistently sought for publications including: American and British Vogue, Show Magazine – a forerunner to Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, The London Evening Standard Magazine, Sunday Telegraph Magazine, The World of Interiors, The Spectator and Tatler. Specifically, Haslam has been a guest editor for Vogue and Tatler.
Haslam is the author of five books; a panorama of his work titled ‘Sheer Opulence’ and ‘Redeeming Features’, a memoir and ‘A Designer’s Life’, an archive of inspired design and decor. He is currently working on several other publishing projects. He is involved in various philanthropic ventures including The Ponsonby Temple Appeal for Parkstead House in Roehampton – his ancestral 18th Century family home - the Soane Museum, Historic Royal Palaces, Maggies Cancer Centers UK and ASAP (African Solutions for African Problems).
With a fabric line and national as well as international design projects on the table, Haslam is continuing the tradition built over the past 38 years at Nicky Haslam Studio, inspiring designers to follow their blazing trail in the international design arena. Nicky Haslam splits his time between his London apartment and the Hunting Lodge in Hampshire that once belonged to John Fowler, originally a partner of Colefax and Fowler.
