LONDON.- Nicky Haslam, one of the world’s most celebrated interior designers, is offering his impressive collection from the Hunting Lodge, in Hampshire, where Haslam has lived since 1978. Nicky’s collection of paintings, furniture, sculpture, antiques and books are to be offered for sale on Wednesday 20 November at Bonhams New Bond Street.

The house is the backdrop to Haslam’s much-loved possessions, featuring furniture dating from the 19th and 20th century, wonderful French terracotta busts, works of art by well-known artists Leon Kossoff, Graham Sutherland, Cecil Beaton and Eric Gill and books inscribed and signed by figures such as Andy Warhol and more.

Bonhams Director of House Sales and Private Collections, Charlie Thomas, said, “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to snap up a piece of design history. We are delighted to be able to offer Nicky’s substantial collection at Bonhams, from the Gothic Revival garden seats on the terrace to the shelves upon shelves of signed books and biographies.”

Nicky Haslam was born in 1939 and educated at Eton. His long and distinguished career as in interior designer began in Los Angeles in the 1970s. Since then, Haslam has designed interiors for Sir Rod Stewart, Bryan Ferry, Roman Abramovich, and many more, including philanthropist, art collector, Dame Janet de Botton. A prolific writer, he has published several books and is a frequent contributor to magazines and newspapers.

The Hunting Lodge has a rich history. It was built in the 16th-century for King Henry VII as a rural escape, when the royal forest stretched from Windsor to Winchester, and its distinctive Jacobean façade was later added in 1620. The site, now a National Trust owned property, was believed to be where Prince Arthur, the elder brother of Henry VIII, first met his wife, Catherine of Aragon.

In the 1970s, Hunting Lodge was then given to the National Trust by celebrated interior designer John Fowler, founder of Colefax & Fowler, after which it passed into Nicky Haslam’s hands on a long lease in 1978. The house has since achieved iconic status in the world of interior design, helped by Nicky’s book, Folly de Grandeur, which the designer wrote in 2013.