Posted on Wed, Mar 27, 2013 @ 03:42 PM
Have you heard of Mindy Grossman? No? She is one cool chick. Not to mention on the Forbes 100 MOST POWERFUL WOMEN IN THE WORLD list. Yes, capital letters. Bet you wish you knew her now, right? Mindy is CEO of HSN (for those of you in England and Australia and Norway, HSN stands for Home Shopping Network) And HSN don't mess around. They reach close to 100 million homes. 100 million Americans watch the HSN network. Which Mindy runs.
I sat next to Mindy at a dinner. Which is incredible in itself because I didn’t think CEO's had time for dinner. Mindy was amazed to hear I lived on a small tropical island. Even more amazed to hear I had bottled all the smells of the island, into a fragrance collection. "Come and tell you story on HSN" she invited me. So I did.
http://blog.indiahicks.com/blog/bid/211875/THERE-S-NO-PLACE-LIKE-HSN But Mindy wanted more. And what Mindy wants Mindy normally gets. Was I going to say no?
For the past few months I have collected swatches of color, small snippets of rope, bleached sand dollars, photographed the colors of our turquoise ocean, sketched palm fronds and dreamt of sleeping on perfect cotton sheets in pastel island colours. But not those sickly pastel colours that make you want to vomit.
Four Island Living bedding collections were born: Harbour Island, Paradise Toile, Tropical Garden and Trade Winds.
And On April 8th I will be live on HSN. Telling my stories. But if you want a little snoop beforehand I have curated a small collection of my favorite pieces for my own website
www.indiahicks.com.
Mindy has also been responsible for transforming HSN into a lifestyle network, diversifying its portfolio of brands and personalities, and spearheading efforts to evolve the linear network into a multi-platform business. Today,
HSN.comis a top-ten most trafficked ecommerce site. Oh yes and Mindy is also a Mum.
Posted on Sun, Mar 24, 2013 @ 10:32 AM
Who's your money on?
Posted on Sat, Mar 23, 2013 @ 11:33 AM
"Errrr hello? Is any body out there? There is a cat in my cage. I know you're all caught up in your big reveal but can someone come and get the cat?"
Posted on Fri, Mar 22, 2013 @ 09:33 AM
We are a few steps away from sharing with you the project I have been working on for the past year....
Posted on Wed, Mar 20, 2013 @ 04:29 PM
Pottery Barn were shooting on the island. Everywhere. Admittedly its a small island but where ever you went there was another bloody Pottery Barn crew.
They asked me to style something for them....which is odd since they have lots of their own stylists. Good ones, with great ideas. Which I often copy. Like framing over sized nautical flags or covering your sofa in inexpensive ticking, instead of hand printed toile, that the cat then pukes up a fur ball onto, although recently the cat eats it back up again.
But Pottery Barn now wanted me to do something, which they would copy, which in a few weeks I would look at in their catalog and think shit thats a great idea and skip off to copy.
..................................................
View the feature here:
Read the interview here:
Posted on Sun, Mar 17, 2013 @ 05:23 PM
There is a newly renovated, recently reopened resort, on a neighboring island. So yes, of course we had to go and have a snoop.
Confusingly its called The Cove. Confusing because there is another Cove, in the Bahamas. (
http://blog.indiahicks.com/blog/bid/211904/ATLANTIS)
I can imagine the surprise on guests faces when they check into The Cove, at Atlantis, with its big-time blackjack, at the adults-only bar, beside the pool, music thumping and rockstars partying like...well....rockstars. Odd, none of that was mentioned on the website, the guests will think to them selves, until realizing they are in the right country, but wrong island.
The Cove, on Eleuthera, runs at a gentler pace, with its pristine beach, white zen interiors and palm trees softly swaying. Gently that is, until you meet the owner, Sidney Torres.
Sidney, aged 20, borrowed some cash from his grandmother, began renovating shotgun houses in New Orleans, bought a few more, sold a few, did some deals, acquired a small hotel, then another and another, went into commercial property, went into residential property, managed a few limited liability corporations (if a few is 25) And then Hurricane Katrina hit. But mother nature and her aftermath was not going to hold Sidney back. As the waste management contractor's pulled out of the devastated city, Sidney moved back in. One trash truck led to 300. Adding innovative sidewalk sweepers and lemon scented water, no less.
Sidney Torres Waste and Debris Services was a phenomenal success and his extraordinary energy helped get the city back up from her knees. Sidney is one remarkable dude, with a lot of determination.
I've seen the shattered dreams of hoteliers and developers on the island of Eleuthera, my father built a famous house there the year I was born but if there is anyone who will manage their way through the spider's web of Bahamian out-island complications, politics and trashed hopes, it will be Sidney. With his equally focused, stylish and driven girlfriend, Jennifer, at his side.
Posted on Fri, Mar 15, 2013 @ 05:15 PM
My mother, her 87 year old sister and I, went to the theater to see the great Helen Mirren play The Queen. And brilliantly so. Peter Morgan’s new play The Audience reveals the delicate balance of power between Monarch and Prime Minister.
A modern constitutional monarch reigns but does not rule. She has influence rather than power. Her influence is exerted by means of three fundamental constitutional rights: the right to be consulted, the right to advise and the right to warn.
The Queen exercises these rights primarily through weekly meetings with her Prime Minister. The purpose of 'the audience' is to enable the Queen and the Prime Minister to speak to each other in perfect confidence, sure that their comments will not reach outside ears.
Of course several Primes Ministers have likened the weekly audiences to visits to the shrink.
My Aunt only snoozed through part of the play but woke with a start when my grandfather, Mountbatten, was loudly mentioned by a formidable Winston Churchill.
The play ended and arm in arm, walking sticks in hand, my mother and Aunt tottered out of the theater. Contemporaries and cousins to The Queen. Tottering history them selves. Out onto the bustling Shaftesbury Avenue and into a Black Cab, driving home past Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace.
A very British evening indeed. For more Britishness click here…..
http://pinterest.com/indiahicks/being-british/ 
Posted on Wed, Mar 13, 2013 @ 07:44 AM
From Australia to Antigua, Canada to Cameroon, the Commonwealth is a remarkable international organisation, spanning every geographical region, religion and culture. It exists to foster international co-operation and trade links between people all over the world. All 15 Commonwealth realms were represented at our little school today, with Ms. Tricia, the headmistress, quite rightly presiding as the 16th, dressed as the head of state and Queen of England.
The combined effort that goes into this event is noteworthy, especially on a small dot of an island where resources are limited. And that's putting it mildly. Putting it not so mildly is to say we can't get a flipping thing here except for a great tan and the occasional good bit of cheese at Captain Bob's. So Malaysia's head dress, made from paper cupcake holders is seriously impressive, right?
This year Domino was chosen to represent the country of Singapore for Commonwealth Day. We had a vague idea what the national dress of Singapore looked like but Top Banana thought she would google it just to check.....
We decided that although the above was certainly festive, we would perhaps stick to our original idea....
Posted on Sat, Mar 09, 2013 @ 09:52 AM
Remember the kitten? The one found in the rain storm? Who then went and broke her leg, got an infection and began a terror attack on the dachshund?
Well it turns out she is a right little minx. And that is putting it politely.
Top Banana took her to the scheduled appointment to have her neutered, and low and behold, when the vet had a look inside he discovered she WAS PREGNANT.
PREGNANT.....I only found her in October, when she could not have been more than a few weeks old, it is now only the beginning of March.
That makes her more than a minx wouldn't you agree?
Posted on Sat, Mar 02, 2013 @ 07:35 PM
Its David's birthday. Its impossible to buy him something he actually wants or likes. His life revolves around books and paintings. And as he curates his own collections there is little room for any outside involvement. So I normally buy him something I want or like. The standard for this was set quite high, when David's older brother bought his mother a set of golf clubs for her birthday one year and she didn't actually play golf.
When David turned 40 I decided what he really wanted to do was to go on a safari to Africa. With my mother. I organized the whole itinerary and when Peter Sylvester of Royal African Safari's came to run it past David he said "Of course this is an especially good trip for Lady Pamela, as I understand she is keen to revisit certain places she last saw on the Commonwealth tour in 1954" Confused David said "Lady Pamela? India's mother?" and Peter Sylvester replied "Why yes, India said Lady Pamela was joining you on the birthday trip"
My mother refers to David as her son-out-law. Technically correct I suppose as we never married. But they get on pretty well......