The Italian-British designer, known for her exquisite textiles (and some fashionable caftans too!), joins The Invisible Collection. Discover her newest designs available through us.
With her keen eye for patterns, Allegra Hicks has been drawing her inspiration from the world around her, building from the colours and forms found in nature. An accomplished designer, she works with different materials and creates most types of furnishings from rugs and tapestries to furniture and textiles.
Her eclectic style, utterly poetic and colourful, is now expressed by her newfound interest in metalwork. By experimenting with bronze, she unveils the metal’s unexpected femininity and delivers some lovely designs that are delicate and strong at the same time.
Allegra means joyful in Italian, and it was a true joy to discover more about her:
What drew you to interior architecture and design and what do you like the most about it?
As a very visual person, with training in both art and design, I am drawn to soft, textural interior elements like rugs and tapestries, as extensions of a canvas, a way to bring warmth and colour to a room. Designing interiors gives me a space to populate with my own visual language, in a plethora of different materials. I find the diversity of materials in interiors visually stimulating; where the softness of textiles almost combats the hardness of a fireplace or table, ultimately finding harmony in the space. This conversation of opposites is what truly draws me to interior architecture. My recent metal work, casting soft crocheted textures in rigid bronze, is borne three-dimensionally out of this visual exchange.
Can you describe your work and style in a few words?
My work is organic, inspired by nature in all its forms.
The piece of furniture you most like to design?
Tables. I feel that tables bring another dimension to design thanks to their very function. One can paint on a table top as if it were a canvas, and yet design its base as if it were a sculpture. This flexibility appeals to me as an artist and designer, as I can simultaneously express myself in more than one medium, exploring how two- and three-dimensional design find balance together.
The most useful piece of design related advice you’ve received and would like to pass on?
To go beyond the known, and not be intimidated by structural limitations. I think it’s so important, in any artistic field, to push yourself to the limit to create something. When designing, I try not to ground my imagination by focusing too heavily on details or practicalities. Thankfully, these usually come after.
What do you like about The Invisible Collection?
For me, The Invisible Collection is uniquely personal. The curation of pieces, and for each designer, has such an intimate familial feel, that all the pieces seem to compliment one another. E-commerce platforms are too often cold, with that almost competitive environment of a bazaar, everyone fighting for space. The pieces of the Invisible Collection are instead so well curated that they all seem to speak the same message and are simply communicating through their own unique alphabet. This is what makes its styling options so ingenious, everything fits so beautifully.
Which piece of furniture (besides your own), available on The Invisible Collection, do you like the most?
I love the eye of The Invisible Collection. The items I would love to have right now are the Giuseppe Scapinelli’s GS3 Chair re-issued by Etel, the Melted Bronze Candle Holder N°1 by Osanna Visconti and the Filet à Papillons Buffet Plate by Pinto.
Discover Allegra Hicks’ new designs available on The Invisible Collection
