By Design, a talk series at Sir John Soane’s Museum, in partnership with Luke Irwin, is back for its third season. Internationally renowned designers are invited to discuss their practice through a single object from the Museum. In this talk, Alice Rawsthorn talks to architect Sophie Hicks.

Listen in the Player below.

About the speakers

Sophie Hicks became a chartered architect in 1994, prior to which she worked in fashion: as a stylist for Vogue Magazine; and for the legendary designer, Azzedine Alaia. A clear conceptual as well as practical thinker, with an instinct for the zeitgeist, she is especially strong on design. She leads a practice with extensive experience in both the fashion retail and private residential sectors. Retail clients include Paul Smith, Chloe, Yohji Yamamoto, Acne Studios, Alaia, and Bottega Veneta. Earl's Court House, London, won an RIBA Award 2019, was shortlisted for the AJ Manser Medal House of the Year and the British Homes Awards, longlisted for the RIBA House of the Year, featured in Grand Designs House of the Year, and 'In Residence' by Nowness. The House Between Two Lakes was completed in 2021 in Northamptonshire, England. 

Sophie founded her practice while a student at the Architectural Association in London, where she remains active today as an external examiner, and was Vice President of the AA Council from 1997-1999. She has held talks and debates at the Barbican Centre, Design Museum, ICA, and V&A Museum. Her work has been featured in numerous international publications.

The event's line-up, standing (left to right) in the hallway of no. 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields: Soane Director Bruce Boucher, Sophie Hicks, and critic Alice Rawsthorn. Architect Sophie Hicks, wearing a white shirt, sits in front of the Astronomical Clock in the Library-Dining Room.

Alice Rawsthorn is an award-winning design critic and author, whose books include Design as an Attitude, Hello World: Where Design Meets Life and, most recently, Design Emergency: Building a Better Future, co-written with Paola Antonelli, senior curator of design at MoMA, New York. Alice’s weekly design column for The New York Times was syndicated worldwide for over a decade. In all her work, Alice champions design’s potential as a social, political and ecological tool. Born in Manchester and based in London, she is chair of the board of trustees of Chisenhale Gallery and a founding member of the Writers for Liberty campaign for human rights. She and Paola are co-founders of of Design Emergency, a research platform that investigates design’s role in forging a fairer future.

Photo (top): Alasdair McLellan; Photos (middle): Victoria Dawes

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