Chatting with India Hicks

We are thrilled to announce our newest interview with the beautiful and fascinating India Hicks - model, mother, designer, and 2nd cousin of the Prince of Wales - it's not often we get to talk to royalty!  India is actually 678th in line for the Throne, but as soon as Prince William's baby is born, she'll go down a number.

She's the granddaughter of the Earl of Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India and her mother was a bridesmaid and lady in waiting to Queen Elizabeth.  But - for design aficionados, India will always be the daughter of David Hicks, one of the most influential interior designers of our times.

Yes, we felt just a bit intimated talking to India.  It's not everyday we talk to a bridesmaid of Princess Diana! Yes, she was that too.  But for the three of us, I think we were most in awe of talking to the daughter of David Hicks.  We were spellbound by her stories.

India has spent her adult years not in England but in the Bahamas, where she and her partner have four children and a newly adopted teenager.  A model, she is also an author and a designer herself, as is her partner David Flint Wood, who co authored her book, Island Life.

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Hicks is really stepping out - she recently sold out her Island Living bedding line on HSN, and plans more sales there this summer and in September.

She is also designing fine jewelry, clothing, home accessories - and just about everything else.

Check out her web site to look around and order online at www.indiahicks.com

Please listen to the interview - and hear her speak of life with her father, how she ended up in the Bahamas, and what she has planned for the future.  

It's a fascinating life she leads.

You can listen below - by clicking on either the desktop or mobile player OR by listening on iTunes - search for The Skirted Roundtable.

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Ushering in Springtime with Carolyne Roehm

 

Just in time for spring to start popping out, we have a wonderful chat with the multi-faceted and talented Carolyne Roehm.  From her start as a fresh faced mid-western college grad taking on the famed New York garment district in the early 70s to her long tenure with Oscar de la Renta, her own fashion label, personal ups and downs and some pretty romantic sounding adventures in Europe - Carolyne shared much of what makes this gentle presence such a long lasting force in American style. Her passions are well documented in several publications and her latest is titled simply Flowerswhich showcases the amazing beauty found in her own gardens at Weatherstone, her Connecticut home. While she does have help, she is clearly a hands-on gardener. In order to capture her flowers at their most beautiful moments, Carolyne realized that she needed to be the one to shoot the images for the book as well, and so she did. It's truly a feast for the eyes.

We also chatted a lot about Carolyne's rebuilding of her 18th century Connecticut house after a devastating fire that gutted nearly all but the original 3-foot deep stone walls. The rebuilding of the house necessitated re-creating all the gardens as well.  So have a listen - it's a good conversation!

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Charlotte Moss Returns to The Skirted Roundtable!

(photo by Eric Striffler)

We were thrilled to have the opportunity to chat for a second time with the fabulous Charlotte Moss who is our first repeat guest here at The Skirted Roundtable. You can listen to our first chat here.  She is, it goes without saying, an iconic interior designer, but she's also a truly inspirational woman. Her latest book Charlotte Moss: A Visual Life: Scrapbooks, Collages, and Inspirations catalogs her love of scrap booking as a way of self-expression and as a way of documenting her life and travels. The book also features the scrapbooks and thoughts on scrapbooking of some other famous women including Gloria Vanderbilt, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Pauline Trigere, Elsie de Wolfe, and SRT alum Alexa Hampton and Deborah Needleman.

The book is a visual feast for the eyes and so jammed packed with images that it needs to be taken in small bites and savored.  We also chat with Charlotte about her travels, photography, gardening and what's coming up in her fabulous life!

Please have a listen to the podcast and come back here to leave a comment about our conversation. We'll be selecting one commenter at random to receive a copy of Charlotte Moss: A Visual Life: Scrapbooks, Collages, and Inspirations for your library!


CONGRATULATIONS TO GLEN BAN OF FARRIN CARY DESIGN - YOU HAVE WON THE BOOK GIVEAWAY!



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Chatting with Nathan Turner

Every once in a, design, while a book comes out that exactly captures the essence of American design. A style that transcends time and trend to become a reference of comfortable, classic design aesthetic.  Los Angeles Designer, and owner of the eponymous showroom, Nathan Turner has done just that with his debut as an author of Nathan Turner's American Style: Classic Design and Effortless Entertaining This is a book that is not only great coffee table decoration but a pragmatic approach to design . Its sleek pages give way to user friendly advice and easily translated ideas, on any budget.

 This week we sit with Nathan and discuss his, image rich, book filled with easy to do, home ideas, celebrity clients' homes and a look into his own, personal, family life.  He refreshingly shares with us the ups and downs of his professional life and offers up great advice for emerging designers. And, yes, we even ask the self-proclaimed, non-drama-kinda-guy, about his stint and exit on Bravo TV's, "Million Dollar Decorator" (Making us love him all the more).

A bedroom in actress, Ione Sky's, Los Angeles home uses Peter Dunham's, 'Fig' fabric creating an eye catching combination of mid-century design and a current textile favorite.

 

Environmentalist and actor, Adrien Grenier, sits in his LEED certified home, designed by Nathan. 

 Nathan's family enjoying their time together in the, Lake Tahoe home, that he decorated. 

 

Actress, Amanda Peet, sits on the stairs of her Nathan designed, Los Feliz, California home. (photo via: style court )

Come have a listen, and if you have the book, grab it as we discuss.

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Chatting with Miles Redd

This week Joni, Megan and Linda had the pleasure of sitting down with the fabulously talented and charming Miles Redd. Known for his exuberant use of color, pattern and pizazz, Miles took us through his career beginnings, his style choices and his fantastic new book The Big Book of Chic
 published by Assouline.

Miles' iconic New York townhouse exterior

The Zebra Door - one of Miles' only "two" original ideas (per Miles...)

The mirrored David Adler room transplanted from Chicago to Miles' townhouse bathroom. Yes, it's a dinner party in the bathroom. 

Miles' first NYC apartment in 14th Street. Note his own life drawings with black tape "frames"

The Houston living room - another view of a well documented room

So listen in!

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Linda and Joni Chat With Alexa Hampton

This week, Linda and Joni sat down to talk with Alexa Hampton, the popular and very talented interior designer. Unfortunately, Megan was off on jury duty!

Alexa, now 40ish, took over her father's highly respected interior design firm, Mark Hampton LLC, after his untimely death at just 58.   A graduate of Brown University, she was only 27 at the time - so young!  Alexa tells us all about how and why she bought the firm outright from her mother.   

Mark Hampton

Alexa is a bonafide Type A personality (aren't they all?) and it comes through loud and clear in her voice.  She is very, very, very WARM and friendly.   She might be the most friendly designer we have talked to yet.

The living room of a large estate recently designed by Alexa Hampton

Besides her busy career, Alexa is also a wife and mother.   She is married to a businessman from Greece and they now have twin sons and a little girl who was born on the anniversary of her father's passing.  On the day of our interview, it was her daughter's 4th birthday and they were on their way to celebrate it at Le Cirque!

A beautiful bedroom pictured in Alexa's design book.

We talk shop:   Alexa describes how she works with clients and her design process, along with how she presents the plans.  

The famous flush mount light fixture Alexa designed while in her bathtub.

She is a very, very busy lady.  Besides her interior design work, she has a line of furniture with Hickory Chair, a line of rugs with Stark a fabric collection with Kravet, and she designs light fixtures for Visual  Comfort.  One of her designs was bought by Restoration Hardware and is a best seller - while her flush mount fixture (pictured above) is one of the most popular fixtures at Visual Comfort.  

Alexa's work is often published, and she is continually named to Architectural Digest's Top 100.  And, to top it all, she is the author of a design book that shows many of her projects.  One interesting thing about her book is she shows the inspiration boards that go along with the pictures:

Alexa includes inspiration boards in the book to go along with the pictures.  

To listen to the interview, just click on the green bar below. (iPad, iPhone users: download from iTunes or click here to listen.) PS: our apologies to listeners and to Alexa, we were having tech problems with Skype and the sound isn't great. We're designers, not techies!!)

   

   
   
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CHATTING WITH VERANDA'S DARA CAPONIGRO

Today, we welcome the editor of Veranda Magazine, Ms. Dara Caponigro to The Skirted Roundtable.

Dara Caponigro, Editor of Veranda Magazine

After the past few years when magazines were closing one after the other, we welcomed the chance to talk with Dara to get her take on the health of the industry.  Dara has had a long and varied career in magazines - she's been with House Beautiful, Elle Decor, domino, and now, of course Veranda.

The 25th Anniversary issue - featuring a look back at the past 25 years.

While other magazines were folding left and right, Veranda was one that bucked the trend and got stronger.  Veranda is currently celebrating their 25th anniversary and to honor this, former editor and founder Lisa Newsom recently published a book - and what a gorgeous book it is!  Stunning!

The prettiest design book - ever?  We think so!

Meghan's favorite spread in the book is Ginny Magher's Provence farmhouse.  It is stunning.

We had a chance to talk with Dara about her background, growing up in an Eichler home with a mother who is an interior designer and a surgeon father.  Both fields appealed to the younger Dara who started her career working at the Bronx zoo - believe it or not.   Her parents were recently spotlighted in the New York Times Design section.  HERE.

Dara's parents dining room - featured in the New York Times.

Dara definitively has the smarts!  While she didn't tell us this, she graduated magna cum laude from  Barnard College where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Dara's own beautiful apartment was featured in Veranda in 2006 - years before she became editor!

To listen to Dara Caponigro's inteview, click on the green bar below:  Enjoy! (iPad, iPhone and others - if you cannot see the player below, click here to listen.)

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