David Nightingale Hicks [commonly known as David Hicks] was born in Coggeshill, Essex, England, on 25 March 1929 and studied at Central School of Arts and Crafts in London from 1938 to 1942. After initially working for the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson, he embarked on a career as a designer-decorator in London in the mid-1950s.
In 1958 he teamed up with Tom Parr [later head Colefax and Fowler] and opened a shop on Lowndes Place, off Belgrave Square, London. Before long, as a result of his talent combined with his family connections, he was attracting clientele from the rich and famous, including Helena Rubinstein, Vidal Sassoon, Earl Mountbatten the King of Saudi Arabia, and the Prince of Wales, for whom he designed interiors.
By the 1960s he was also also designing furnishing fabrics and carpets. He also produced fashion and jewellery collections. In designed sets for Richard Lester's film Petulia. Later in his career he turned to designing gardens By the 1970s he had acquired an international reputation and opened shops in 15 countries.
His interest in architecture developed in the 1980s and he designed a Palladian villa in Portugal for himself and his family.
Hicks was the author nine books is which he discussed his approach to design and documented his various projects. He died in Britwell Salome, Oxfordshire, on 29 March 1998.
Contemporary Designers, edited by Sara Prendergast. Detroit, Michigan: St. James Press, 3rd edition, 1997
Hicks, Ashley. David Hicks. A Life of Design. New York: Rizzoli, 2009