PIN-UP
SOPHIE HICKS – THE ALAÏA-CLAD STYLIST WHO REFITTED HERSELF AS AN ARCHITECT
By Emily King
Photographs by Andreas Larsson
Fall/Winter 09/10
RIKA STUDIOS PAPER
EDITION No.9, SUMMER 2024
Photography by Johnnie Shand Kydd. Interview by Emily King. Creative Direction by Ulrika Lundgren. Art Direction and Design by NR2154.
‘Since the early 1980s, Sophie Hicks has been a singular presence on the London scene. She went straight from school to work in fashion, first at magazines and later with the designer Azzedine Alaia. Changing track in her late 20s, she went to study at London’s Architectural Association and has worked as an architect ever since. Among notable early commissions was the Paul Smith store, which caused a stir in Notting Hill when it opened in 1998. Suggestive of a home, but packed with spatial drama, it established a tone for Sophie’s work. In essence, she uses architecture to tell stories, her clients include brands, institutions and individuals.
Having lived in West London for decades, Sophie has recently committed to spending half her time in Venice. With her grown-up children spread—the eldest Arthur lives in London with his young family, the middle one Edie in Northamptonshire with her horses, and the youngest Olympia pursuing an academic career in France. Sophie hopes that her clan, including the men she considers her cultural parents, the art dealer John Kasmin and the curator Norman Rosenthal, might gather from time to time in the glorious Italian town.
As a friend of Sophie’s, I am delighted to have the chance to catch up with her between her travels.
We talk in my kitchen, while looking through the beautiful images that appear on these pages. It’s a pleasure to collaborate with Sophie and her dear longtime friend, the brilliant photographer Johnnie Shand Kydd, in bringing you this interview.’
Emily King
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