AT HOME WITH HICKS

A rare female star in the world of architecture, Sophie Hicks has designed store concepts for Chloé, Paul Smith and Yohji Yamamoto. Famous for her androgynous style, unflappable manner and tremendous energy, she works from an office on the top floor of her home in Notting Hill, . Sophie describes her process about getting inside the heads of her clients, most recently Jonny Johansson of Acne Studios, whose new store in she designed.

Photography Brett Lloyd

Conversation Skye Sherwin 50 51 Projects like Acne Studios new flagship bou- He can take me out of my comfort zone. I’m very rough concrete floors, concrete columns and tique in Seoul and designing Chloé’s interna- happy to take risks.” a floating concrete staircase, all encased in an tional store concept, have earned Sophie Hicks opaque ‘lightbox’. Did you have a very specific the title ‘’s architect’. Yet the London- Did you know him before that commission? brief from Jonny Johansson? based 55-year-old’s CV is far more varied than You’re both very invested in architecture, but as “No. What I do with all new fashion clients that moniker might imply. From her early days as you say his work is so different from your own. is an in-depth study of who they are, and what’s a teenage stylist at Harpers & Queen and, a few “I’d worked with him for a store in the character of what they create. I didn’t know years later, as fashion editor at British Vogue, called Red Ear Jeans when I was working with at all, so I also tried to find out a bit she’s been known for her vision and drive, not Paul Smith. We did it all out like a midwestern about Swedish culture and how Acne Studios to mention her signature look: masculine tai- shack. We had the jeans put on taxidermied ani- fits within that. I put it all down in a homemade lored suits and close-cropped hair. Over the mal heads. I like commissioning. If I was com- film. The main image of the film was taken under- years, she’s designed exhibitions, including the missioning art for a building I was designing, I neath a concrete bridge in , where YBAs’ celebrated Sensation show at London’s would certainly get the artist involved in the early the water rushes past at high speed and a train Royal Academy, worked with everyone from design stages. I don’t like bolt-on art – you need comes over your head, and the sound is of this Federico Fellini to Paul Smith, and has recently to design it with the building.” mechanical clanking train passing. It could have focused on property development, including her gone either of two ways: into a more rural rus- own Notting Hill home and architecture studio. Your architecture practice has its office on the tic natural way, or a more urban and gritty way. Space Magazine caught up with her in the glass- roof of your home, with a glass front so you Jonny chose the urban and gritty.” fronted office on the roof to discuss the secret of can be seen from the street and vice versa. her success, what makes a home and how to live Was that important? Your design uses some quite particular details (hint: shopping doesn’t figure). “The house and the office are next door to like the imprint on the concrete of wooden each other. For me to come to work I just walk boards that form the paths from water to You’ve been doing a lot of travelling for Acne across the roof terrace from the kitchen, which beaches in Sweden. That’s very specific, Studios Korea project. What do you most look is rather good. The big glass fronted top floor where did that come from? forward to about coming home? is 30 metres long. You see the back of terraced “I think all Swedes seem to feel an incred- “I quite like being away! I look forward to Victorian houses, all the extensions, the drain ibly strong link to nature, and they all have this going to Seoul. It’s really fun. I don’t get very home- pipes, the windows onto zigzagging staircases, love of the islands. Jonny certainly does. There’s sick, though I like to come home to my family.” satellite dishes, ivy climbing, chimney pots. this incredibly strong link to this quiet, reflec- It’s a very London view and I love it. I don’t feel tive, modest lifestyle. The boardwalks in those What makes a home a home for you? observed, I don’t know why, because I’m in a big islands, they’re so simple and so undesigned “An accretion of experiences and events glass box.” and unfancy. The architecture is all small wooden over the years that the family have shared, which houses. I thought to have the imprint of the wood add patina to a home. My home is quite stark. Do you have to be strict about keeping work on the concrete would give a small link to the nat- It’s got a really tough concrete staircase running hours because the office is so close? ural world.” up through the middle of it. It’s got mainly hard “No, I just leave. We’re three people and floors and all white walls. You would think it’s very strict about not doing ridiculously long There’s no obvious decoration inside the store. chilly but in fact it’s incredibly warm, and I think hours, and I run a very tight ship. I’ve often Concrete is very important and there’s a metal- that’s through the human activity that’s gone on worked from home because when I had children, lic backdrop for the clothes. It’s pristine and all in it and the personal belongings that we’ve col- I had my office in what was meant to be a din- the pipework is on the roof. lected and dotted around. And the cats!” ing room, but was in fact an overflowing chaotic “They’re quite Viking the Swedes. And office. I’m used to it, and my children knew when they don’t mince their words. They don’t dec- Cats do make a home. What else is important? they were little, not to come in. They’d open orate the way they are, or their conversation. “Generosity in entertaining and feeding the door, I’d just look at them and they’d go out They’re quite blunt. It seemed to me that the key people I find very important. My son’s birthday is again. Maybe that’s too fierce, but it’s impossi- part of the building should be very raw and una- just before Christmas, and I always look forward ble to work with children hanging around you. It’s dorned, forceful and strong. That was really the to cooking a big dinner for him and his friends, better to work for a few hours and do a lot, rather starting point. I call it the concrete monster, but which we do most years. Feeding people, mak- than drag it out into a chaotic mess.” it’s really a concrete being, I suppose, or beast. ing a warm and generous environment, I think Once you’ve got your beast, then you need to makes a house into a home.” Your career as an architect blossomed at put it in a home. We toyed with how we could around the same time that you started a fam- encase the beast. And eventually, we came upon As you said, your house does look very clean ily. You mentioned how disciplined you have to this polycarbonate, which we used, but it could and almost gallery-like, but you also have this be. What other challenges were there? have been glass or anything. But the idea is that incredible mix of materials – wood, marble, til- “Well, time is the big one. I was having the beast is encased in its own display case, but ing, with concrete – which is quite unexpected children, studying and running an office. I find because the Swedish character is also quite in a domestic environment. it quite easy to get things organised, but it is modest and a little shy, it’s in a display case but “Well, it’s quite piecemeal. When you stressful. I never took projects that I didn’t want. the case is not transparent.” enter through the front door, you’ll see a long If you’re offered a nice one it’s very difficult to thin swimming pool that goes underneath say no. My girls have become a little bit like me, How does its Korean setting work with the design? the central concrete staircase, which you see my oldest daughter [Burberry campaign star “It’s in a little grotty car park, surrounded by through a glass window. (It’s an earlier version Edie Campbell] did a degree at the Courtauld really ugly different backs of buildings. It’s quite a of what I’ve done for Acne Studios.) The pool in History of Art and was modelling at the same fabulous location. The setting is very important. has orange and white tiles [with a floral print], time and horse riding semi-professionally – she’s It’s really a conversation between Acne Studios Powis Mews which I didn’t choose. I commissioned them an amateur rider, but a serious one. Attempting and Sweden and Korea. Acne Studios is a bit Architect Sophie Hicks at her home in Powis from Richard Woods, the artist. He said: ‘Shall to do more than you can really do tends to be a of a destination shop, they tend to not be on the Mews, Notting Hill, London. Sophie in her glass- we do orange?’ I thought: Yes, because I would family trait running on the female side.” main street. They see themselves as something fronted office, next to her home. Both are fitted never chose that, it’s tasteless and fabulous. a little bit apart and certainly forward thinking. with hard floors and all white walls, but according Left to my own devices, I’d pick white or some- It’s a good trait. You’ve just completed Acne The store is in a perfect location, because it is to Sophie her spaces are “incredibly warm”. 52 53 thing. I thought: Thank goodness for Richard! Studios flagship store in Seoul, with two slightly hidden, off one of the interesting lanes An iconic view Sophie and her colleagues work with many materials, but the one she holds dearest is... concrete. The concrete staircase rises from the ground floor swimming pool, through Sophie Hicks’ home in Notting Hill. 54 55 56 57 The Acne Studios lightbox in Seoul Acne Studios’ new flagship store in Seoul, designed by Sophie, plays with the contrast between discretion and force. Viewed from the outside it is a restrained and elegant lightbox. The inside of the new Acne Studios store is reminiscent of Sophie’s home. A floating concrete staircase winds around one of the columns. 58 59 60 61 on the hills in Gangnam, which makes it a little only 26, and I saw the fashion coming round. I understood the fashion industry better having developments. There’s often little coherence bit exclusive. Also it is around the corner from remember one or two things had gone full circle. trained to be an architect. I appreciated how but a lot going on. How difficult is it creating Corso Como and Boon The Shop, which are the I thought: Hang on a minute, if it’s gone full cir- people in fashion work on instinct and that’s new buildings within that? two most stylish multi-brand shops in Seoul. It’s cle already, how many more times around the cir- anathema to architects. “It’s incredibly hard to get planning permis- exactly right.” cle am I going to have to go, before I think that’s “I respected fashion people more having sion. I embarked, three years ago, on this idea enough?’ I didn’t like the repetition. left them. Good ones have an incredible knack to get planning permission for houses in conser- So you have to be in the know? “The other thing is that I was rather excited for sensing the zeitgeist. Because they’re under vation areas, with contemporary facades visible “Ish, the Koreans are real professional about actually creating something myself, rather pressure to create these new collections every from the street. That sounds pretty un-conten- shoppers – they know everything!” than working with other people’s creativity. It’s a few months they have to be very decisive. I think tious. Why should any house built in a conser- silly story the Madonna one. It was like that, but that’s incredibly useful in any creative world. The vation area only have a pastiche façade? Yet On your website, you identify a moment where really it just kick-started me into doing what I ability to know what’s right at any given moment when you look around central London, I mean fashion houses consciously decided they wanted to do.” and then act on it fast. If I’m designing a build- Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster, there are wanted to make more than just stores for shop- ing, you need to edit yourself constantly and not almost no modern houses visible from the street. ping, places that offer another kind of experi- How difficult was it going back to school when be distracted. If you have a rail of 50 outfits and They’re all hidden down alleyways, or the mod- ence, on top of the clothing itself. How have you’d already had an established career and a you can shoot six, you can’t wonder. You have to ern façade is only at the back. We’re incredibly you seen that evolve in recent years? professional identity? know what’s good when you see it.” traditional and conservative in Kensington and “I’m not a shopper to be honest. I only want “Well you have to keep a low profile. I went Chelsea and I think it’s completely unhealthy. to go to a shop if I know there’s something inter- to the Architectural Association. You don’t want How would that play out with the Chloé stores It produces bad architecture, this desire to not esting for sale there, because I don’t like shop- to draw attention to yourself. You want to suss for instance? I was interested to see Rodin’s shock anyone and only have pastiche buildings. ping if I don’t have to. Also, another strange thing the place out and find your path, because you’re Gates of Hell was a reference. It’s definitely We’re very feeble in England generally. I don’t is that I make a conscious effort not to look at all starting something new and experimenting. I not something I would immediately associate know what it is that makes the British aspire to the new stores because I think it’s too distract- thought it was very important to keep quiet. So with Chloé. the Georgian rectory come what may.” ing. I look more in airport stores, because they’re most of the students in the classes I took had no “Phoebe Philo had done a couple of col- difficult and they’re really under scrutiny. I’ll look idea what my previous life had been. There was lections by then, so you could see what she was And what are your current dream projects? at technical specifics, like how various problems one girl who I did a joint project with who knew doing. Rodin’s Gates of Hell, it’s really story, “Ooh, I’d quite like to do a hotel. I’m very with lighting have been solved. Those big swanky what I’d been up to because she liked clothes. material, the seriousness of the bronze. The fact keen on how to live. Whenever you’re at home, stores that have art and ‘experience’ and stuff – I remember standing in the bar at the AA with that there’s more to Chloé than the surface pret- there’s stuff you’ve got to do, even if it’s just mak- I’m not really interested in that. I think shops are her, filthy dirty because I’d been making stuff, tiness. There’s a solidity and a weight. The his- ing the bed. The wonderful thing about hotels for shopping. Also, it’s always bad art, it’s always welding and stuff, in our overalls, having a beer toric nature of it as well.” is that it’s a fantasy home and fantasy life. The a bad fit. When have you been into a shop and with smears of dirt on our faces and under our views are different, the experience is different thought: ‘Ooh wow! Who is that painter?’ They fingernails. She looked at me, I just said: ‘God, at One of your early commissions was doing the and you know you don’t have to make the bed.” always jump on the bandwagon after someone’s Vogue, they’d never have thought would they!’” exhibition design for Sensation, the YBA show. become established, so it seems to me.” That was such a seismic moment for British You were interested in film too, which is how art. It became edgy in a new way against the You’re known for a very distinct personal style, you ended up in a Fellini film. backdrop of Brit Pop. Working on that show, in terms of how you dress. Most people go “Well I was momentarily interested in the did it feel like you were part of a new moment? through quite a bit of experimentation before idea of trying to train to be a film director. I was “I was an observer. It was an incredibly hitting on what feels right for them. Was that given an introduction to Fellini so I went to see exciting moment. I’m not sure there’s been a your experience or have you always been very him and ask him if I could be an assistant on one movement as exciting and all-encompassing definite about what you want clothing wise? of his films. He said, no you can’t, but you can be since really. Art seems to me to be rather frag- “I like to wear clothes that I feel really com- in one of my films.” mented now. Artists since have not grouped fortable in, and so I don’t experiment with looks. together, probably because there hasn’t been I’m not out to make a splash. I guess I’ve had the What stopped you pursuing that path? such a charismatic character as Damien [Hirst].” same approximate look in clothes since I was “That film put me off! It was meant to be about 18 or something. With slight variations. I a film of Kafka’s book,Amerika , and I was sup- With your wider property development, these went through an Alaïa phase when I was work- posed to be playing Karl. It turned out to be a film are homes for imagined clients, because ing at British Vogue. He has incredible tailoring, called Intervista, with Fellini’s and his great stars, they’re projects that you pioneer. Who is the so I could do my look in his clothes, which was Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg’s reminis- client in your head and does it change from fabulous. He made the best classic pleat front cences of filmmaking together. It just seemed like site to site? trousers ever.” such an unbelievably chaotic nightmarish indus- “It changes from site to site. I just finished try. I mean, budget, timing, chaos, disorganisa- a small development in Bloomsbury, just across In terms of your own route into architecture, tion. Never having the budget at the moment that from St George’s Gardens.” Madonna cancelling a big shoot at the elev- you need it. It just said to me: ‘My God, if you’re enth hour that you were creating with Azzedine even Fellini, and you can’t make the film you want I know that park, with the ancient gravestones. Alaïa, is often referred to as your light-bulb to make… Maybe this isn’t the thing for me.’ It It’s a magical spot, really tucked away. moment. But presumably there were other rea- would have been wonderful, but I like order. Then “It’s a lovely spot. For that one the imagi- sons. You’d started so young working in fash- I feel relaxed and confident, and what I hate is a nary client was the person commuting from ion, editing a teen issue of Harpers and Queen mad panic and the chaos that brings.” who could wheel his or her suitcase from the in 1977 when you were seventeen. Did you Eurostar and not have to get into the taxi queue. feel like you’d achieved everything you could? What did you learn as a fashion editor that In the end it was rented by an American busi- “Well, I’d always wanted to do architecture proved useful when it came to working in nessman whose Parisian wife wanted to stay on from the age of 13 or 14. When I came to choose architecture, perhaps in terms of concept in Paris and he would commute back and forth The fashion architect my A Levels against everyone’s advice, I thought stores or more broadly? every few days. It worked!” Sophie Hicks started her career while serv- I’d better take maths. So I’d had it at the back “I actually learned organisation from doing ing as a stylist for Azzedine Alaïa and as fashion of my mind. I loved working in the fashion world. fashion. It helped hugely to have worked in the One of the challenges in London must be editor for British Vogue. Since then, her work At 17, what is more fun? It feels frivolous, excit- world beforehand, and that’s probably why I was negotiating the mix of architectural styles, from has expanded in the field of architecture: She ing, but also creative. You meet interesting funny starting to be commissioned to do jobs in my very traditional, neo-classical Georgian build- designed Chloé’s shops and has collaborated people. After a while I thought two things. I was third year of architecture studies. I also found I ings to ill thought through twentieth-century 62 63 closely with Yohji Yamamoto and Paul Smith.