- Architecture
- Decoration
- Flooring
- Interior Design
- Kitchens & Bathrooms
- Lighting
- Outdoor Living
Founded in 2014, Fran Hickman’s interior and architectural design studio has worked on an eclectic portfolio of high-profile residential projects over the last eight years, among them: townhouses in New York and London, country estates in rural England and an architecturally significant modernist beach house in Long Island.
The studio’s work is underpinned by a clear understanding of the critical role that built environments play in daily life; driven by the belief that good design shapes how people live and behave. The objective is not simply to make spaces feel special but to make people feel special within them.
The studio is made up of two design teams, led by Fran, working alongside an in-house architect. In its residential work, the studio’s objective is clear: to help people design homes they are pleased to be in. This, of course, is a hugely subjective process. Thus, the relationship the studio has with its clients is responsive to each client’s specific needs, while the studio’s work puts the client at the centre. In essence, Fran Hickman’s studio brings to bear all its experience and taste in service to its client's needs, desires, ambitions and even dreams.
With a base in London and an office in NYC, the studio engages in projects across three continents, with its lead-agency expertise supported by an international network of partner agencies. Operating at a global level obliges the studio to offset its carbon consumption completely and consider the long-term impacts of its creative choices. The studio reduces, reuses and recycles all its materials in-house and is continuously updating its knowledge in relation to sustainability and the built environment.
"Fran Hickman’s studio doesn’t have a house style. Rather, its work is defined by its approach. And its approach is to put the client at the centre of the process. Responding to the specifics of a given building and the people who are going to live in it, each project is considered on its own terms, meaning that the studio never does the same thing twice. Careful consideration is given to the specific vernacular of each new brief – depending on the history of the house, the site’s locale and the specifics of the client’s own style and objectives."
"Every piece of work Fran Hickman takes on is bespoke. Like a couture dress or a tailored suit, the studio only does made-to-measure, creating singular designs from the language of existing environments, tailored not only to the way a particular client lives and works but to the specifics of the locale, its history and its architecture. These designs are then made manifest with a charm, grace and savoir-faire simultaneously deliberate, considered and consciously related. Precision, harmony and poise are the order of the day – proportion, scale, light – all deployed with the simple objective of making the built environment better. The intention: to enhance mood, behaviour, and even relationships. In collaboration with the studio, clients discover how to make life more playful, calmer, happier, and even healthier; while everything – from shape to material to finish – is chosen for a specific reason related to the particular clients’ unique story.
Each client is provided with a weekly presentation, a weekly update report and a weekly conversation to keep the project on track. The studio prides itself on its lack of ego: the objective is to offer options, guide decision-making and curate each project in close communication with the client. In other words, the studio does not have a house style. Instead, it builds a style for each project in response to and in communication with each individual client."
Annabel Elston
