| Nicholas Ponsonby Haslam | |
|---|---|
| Born | 27 September 1939 Great Hundridge Manor, Buckinghamshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Other names | Nicky |
| Education | Eton College |
| Occupation | Interior Designer, Writer, Socialite, Cabaret Singer, Blogger |
| Employer | NH Design Inc. |
| Known for | One of the world's leading Interior Designers, writing reviews and columns for various international magazines and newspapers, his personal fashion style, global socialite. |
| Title | Founder of NH Design |
| Website | |
| NH Design | |
Nicholas Ponsonby 'Nicky' Haslam (born September 27, 1939) is a British interior designer and socialite and founder of the London-based interior design firm NH Design Inc.
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Haslam was born at Great Hundridge Manor, Buckinghamshire, England, the third son of diplomat William Heywood Haslam (1889—1981)‚[1] and his wife, the former Diamond Louise Constance Ponsonby (aka Diana, b. 1897), a granddaughter of the 7th Earl of Bessborough, a goddaughter of Queen Victoria, and the former wife of Dr. Henry E. Marks, an American physician.[2][3][4] Haslam's brothers are Ralph Michael Haslam (born 1931) and William John Heywood Haslam (born 1933). He also had a half-sister, Diana Marks (aka Anne, 1925—1987), who married John Hilder Loeb, son of a founding partner of the Brillo Manufacturing Corporation, in 1949.[5]
He was educated at private school and Eton College.
In 1966, Haslam and his lover at the time, American banking heir James Davison, bought Black Canyon Ranch, near Phoenix, Arizona for breeding and showing Arabian horses.[6] From 1970 he combined breeding show horses, working in Los Angeles as a photographer and designing rooms and parties for clients, among them Natalie Wood.
Haslam broke up with Davison and returned to London in 1972, where he soon was asked to design and decorate a townhouse for Lord Hesketh. In the early 1980's, Haslam owned and operated the Nicholas Haslam Showroom on Holbein Place, London, together with his then-partner, Paolo Moschino. When the pair split in 1995, Haslam took control of NH Design as the interior design side of the business, with Moschino taking ownership of the Nicholas Haslam shop. The two businesses today operate as separate entities.
Haslam has recently published a book of his work entitled Sheer Opulence, and a second book on design is in the pipeline. His autobiography, Redeeming Features, was published in 2009; in it he mentions his affairs with numerous individuals, including architect Philip Johnson, photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, art dealer Cavan O'Brien, and artist Michael Wishart. He is a frequent columnist for the London Evening Standard and Sunday Telegraph magazines. Besides frequently writing reviews for The World of Interiors and The Spectator, Haslam wrote a gossip column for "Ritz Newspaper" under the pseudonym 'Paul Parsons' and has been a contributing editor of British Vogue and Tatler for many years. In December 2010, Haslam started blogging for The Telegraph.
Before launching her own retail chain, the designer Cath Kidston worked for Haslam[7].
In his 2009 memoir, Redeeming Features, Haslam claims that he had an affair with photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones shortly before the latter married Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom.[8]
In June 2009 Haslam performed five nights of Hart and Cole at Bellamy's Restaurant in London. To celebrate the launch of the new Beaufort Bar at the Savoy in London in November 2010, Haslam performed two nights of cabaret, singing Cole Porter songs to a private audience that included guests like Kate Moss, Jerry Hall and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Photographs of Nicky Haslam: