BATHROOM PROFILES

Following in his father David Hicks’ footsteps, globally renowned British interior designer Ashley Hicks is known for his use of intricate patterns and eclectic designs. His award-winning interiors projects are instantly recognisable, as are his fabric, f

Tastemakers Ashley Hicks, Tom Raffield and Martin Brudnizki invite us into their bathrooms to discuss the ideas behind their three very different looks

This is in my London apartment or ‘set of chambers’ in Albany, Piccadilly.

The bathroom is miniscule, cut from the original 1803 dressing room in this gentleman’s pied-a-terre. When I moved in, I discovered that my father had blocked up the small window over the loo because of the ugly view – he rather loathed daylight anyway – so I, of course, opened it up again. I decided to make the space bright and airy, in contrast to this dark brown bathing area.

I wanted to create a sort of glamorous, Caribbean treasure cave.

To make it feel bigger, because it’s so tiny, I painted the walls and the ceiling a dark peat brown, and covered one entire wall in mirror. Now, the angled doorway forms a pointed arch, perfectly framing the turquoise and sand-coloured space beyond. Sitting in the bath feels like you’re resting in the shade with a view out to the clear sky and a sandy beach beyond – that’s the idea, at least! The bath is the most important thing in any home of mine because I like to lie in it and read for hours.

The idea was also to turn the room into a ‘ bath museum’ by covering the walls with glass, which is reverse printed with my pictures of treasures from the Louvre in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

All of the images are fitted into a virtual collector’s cabinet, and the colours of each were adjusted so that they work well with the turquoise in the adjoining room. The exhibits are all quite amusing and lovely to look at. There are pictures of wonderful ink blocks, originally from the Summer Palace in Beijing, for example, and each has a label naming the room for which it was made, such as the ‘Chamber for Writing about Beautiful Stones’. It feels very luxurious to be surrounded by so many beautiful things.

The bath has a shelf made of white Corian along the righthand side, for resting my cup of tea and telephone.

The tub is a ‘Bette Classic’, always. Bette makes the most comfortable baths. I simply cannot abide a tub set beneath a marble top – it’s never comfortable for the neck and takes up far too much space. The panel of laser-cut wood on the side spells ‘musaem’ – the original term for museum, and the home of The Muses of Ancient Greece.

I shower every morning and have a Hansgrohe rain shower, which is perfect.

The loo is always Philippe Starck for Duravit – again, just right. The washbasin has to have an ‘Axor Starck’ tap by Philippe Starck for Hansgrohe, which is the best. I loathe fake antique bath fittings – there’s nothing more hideous and absurd. They should be as simple as possible, unless, of course, you can afford really beautiful old ones that actually work.

I painted the cabinet by hand in a sort of 1930s-style random grid using colours picked from the travertine flooring, and

there are a couple of good vertical lights beside the mirror.

My favourite bath products include a tray from The Lacquer Company and towels and a bathrobe from Frette.

I also use the ‘Opiat Dentaire’ toothpaste in ‘Mint, Coriander and Cucumber’ by Buly 1803, which my lovely wife always brings back from her trips to Paris for me. ashleyhicks.com ➤