Inspiration Overload

I am currently engrossed in the autobiography of Nicky Haslam. It is absolutely fascinating and I can't believe that one person could have met so many talented and famous people in one life time! He really does know EVERYONE. I met him once at a wedding in Devon. He was not interested in me in the slightest and kept asking where Darling was - when you read the book it will be obvious why. He does do the most brilliant projects though, go and look at his work on www.nh-design.co.uk His hand drawn perspectives are too beautiful for words.

I'm not going to try to write a clever summary of the book so instead here's the synopsis from the book cover:

From the legendary interior designer Nicky Haslam, a dazzling and witty account of his frenetic life - from the 50's to the present - in London, the south of France, New York, Arizona and Los Angeles, in a crowd of friends and acquaintances that includes virtually all of the cultural icons of our time.

Nicky Haslam has found himself at the centre of the most interesting circles wherever he is - at parties, opening nights, royal weddings. In London in the late 50's he crossed paths - and more - with Cecil Beaton, Francis Bacon, Diana Cooper, Lucien Freud, David Hockney and Noel Coward. In the 60's, in New York, he encountered Dorothy Parker, Cole Porter, Andy Warhol, Jack Kennedy and Marilyn Munroe while working at Vogue and Show magazines, before decamping to a ranch in Arizona to raise Arabian horses, when he wasn't commuting to Los Angeles to decorate for the stars. Back in England in the early 80's, he attended the wedding of his cousin Diana Spencer and designed for everyone from James Goldsmith to Bryan Ferry.

Haslam is a gifted and exuberant storyteller with an exacting eye for the telling detail. Redeeming Features is a fascinating look at our culture, a compelling and wholly singular document of our times.

Homes decorated by Nicky Haslam.

Go and look at the enlarged version of Nicky Haslam's drawings on www.nh-design.co.uk