NHA Announces Nantucket By Design Lineup

The Nantucket Historical Association this week announced the lineup for its annual fundraiser, Nantucket by Design, including award-winning interior designers, landscape architects, and artisans.

The event, scheduled for August 2-5, will include Ashley Hicks and Martina Mondadori as keynote speakers for the Design Luncheon, as well as India Hicks, Wambui Ippolito, Thomas Jayne, and Nicholas Varney as panelists for the Design Panel, moderated by Veranda magazine editor-in-chief, Steele Marcoux.

In its eighth year, Nantucket by Design celebrates the many forms of design while raising money for the NHA to continue its commitment to steward and preserve the heritage of Nantucket.

This year’s events will offer keynote and panel discussions, master classes, and a continued partnership with The Nantucket Summer Antiques Show for a preview party. Participants will also enjoy continued collaborative design work of New York School of Interior Design (NYSID) and Kean University – Michael Graves College students.

In addition to these design events, the NHA will also be incorporating Historic Home & Architecture walking and guided tours, a special lecture about its featured exhibition and its ties to design on the island, as well as an event surrounding its quilt collection at the historic property, Greater Light, to offer participants a chance to learn more about the island’s rich history and the NHA’s core mission.

“We are thrilled to present this year’s Nantucket by Design theme of Legacy. Whether exploring the talent and possessions of generational families, our museum collections, or our tiny island’s widespread influence, Nantucket has a legacy that looms large in the world of design, culture, and the arts. We are delighted to have a bevy of all-star luminaries connected to our theme, which will shed further light on the relevance and importance of legacy in today’s arena of design,” said Stacey Bewkes and Olivia Charney Nantucket by Design 2022-23 chairs.

Ashley Hicks, one of the keynote speakers at the Design Luncheon, was trained at the Architectural Association in London. Ashley worked briefly for his father, interior designer David Hicks, before starting his own design practice. He has designed furniture collections and collections of fabrics, carpets, and wallpaper. Ashley has designed architecture and interiors in the UK, Europe, and the United States, mixing private residential projects with larger-scale commercial work. In 2012, he started to make furniture and decorative objects with his own hands, carving and gilding furniture, making mirror frames in painted resin, and creating Totem sculptures in resin, clay, and gilt bronze. Ashley published his book, Rooms with a History: Interiors and their Inspirations, in 2019, as well as a personal memoir celebrating his father’s legacy, David Hicks: Designer, in 2002, with a foreword by Tom Ford, as well as many other publications honoring his father’s work. His most recent publication, David Hicks in colour with a foreword by Tory Burch, was published in February 2023 with Cabana Magazine.

The second keynote speaker at the Design Luncheon will be Martina Mondadori. Martina is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of European-based Cabana Magazine, the biannual interiors and decorative arts publication, and the creative director of the brand’s homewares line, Casa Cabana. She is also the author of four books: Renzo Mongiardino: A Painterly Vision; Cabana Anthology; Casa Cabana, and YSL Lexicon. Representing the fourth generation of the Mondadori publishing family, Martina worked in publishing and luxury branding before launching Cabana in 2014. Martina’s homes have been featured in international design publications, including Architectural Digest, Vogue, and the Financial Times, while Casa Cabana has appeared on 1stdibs, Matches Fashion, and as the first Home Trunk show on Moda Operandi.

Taking part in the Design Panel, India Hicks is a designer, entrepreneur, best-selling author, and mother of five that was born in London, England. Coming from both British and design royalty, her father was also famed interior decorator David Hicks, and her mother is Lady Pamela Hicks, whose father was the last Viceroy of India. She has authored five design books, modeled for Ralph Lauren, among others, and been an on-air personality for networks ranging from Bravo to the BBC. She has had her hand in the design world for over two decades – from hotels to home collections. India has had her own direct sales brand, as well as a podcast series with her mother, and India continues to consult with fashion, home, and lifestyle brands.

Design Panelist Wambui Ippolito was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and was influenced by her mother’s gardens in Nairobi and the landscape surrounding her family’s farm in the Great Rift Valley. In 2021, Veranda Magazine named her one of eleven revolutionary female Landscape Architects and Designers you should know. She won the “Best in Show” award by unanimous decision at the PHS Philadelphia Flower Show in 2021. Wambui works in New York City, where she lives with her husband and daughter. She is signed to Timber Press and the Hachette Book Group and is currently writing a book about immigrant landscapes in America.

Design Panelist Thomas Jayne is widely recognized as among the leading practitioners of classically inspired interior design. He received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Oregon’s School of Architecture and Allied Arts, where he studied with the noted American architectural historian Marian Card Donnelly. He is a professionally trained curator, having been awarded a master’s degree from the Henry Francis duPont Winterthur Museum’s program in American Material Culture and the Decorative Arts. Following advanced fellowships at the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and at the J. Paul Getty Museum in California, Thomas’ interest in architecture and the decorative arts eventually led him to pursue a career in interior design. Thomas has written three books published by the Monacelli Press, and his work has been published in books and magazines internationally. He is the recipient of an Arthur Ross Award and two Stanford White Awards from The Institute of Classical Architecture and Art. He has also received the Georgian Group Architectural Award for Interior Restoration for his work at Crichel House, Dorset, England.

Design Panelist, Nicholas Varney, is a renowned jewelry artisan. After graduating from the Gemological Institute of America in Vicenza, Italy, Nicholas opened his own design studio. It comes as no surprise that Varney would choose to be an artist after growing up with his father, Carleton, a renowned interior designer and owner of Dorothy Draper, and his mother, Suzanne, founder of the respected textile firm Carleton V. Nicholas has always been inspired by nature and the organic, which is displayed in his use of precious metals, rare natural pearls, diamonds and colorful gemstones mixed with wood, cork, eggshell, and agate to create an unexpected beauty rarely seen in fine jewelry. Nicholas was inducted into the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) in 2006. He was the featured designer for the opening of the Gem and Mineral exhibit at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. Forbes named Varney one of the “Five Jewelers working today that you will be collecting tomorrow.” Nicholas has been featured in various publications and jewelry books, including Veranda, Town and Country, Vogue, Departures, and more.

Tickets to Nantucket by Design events went on sale on Monday, May 15. To learn more about Nantucket by Design, please visit nha.org or call Stacey W. Stuart, Director of Corporate Development, at (508) 228-1894, ext.130