Barbara Hulanicki made her name in the 1960s with the fashion boutique Biba, before moving into hotel and interior design. And at 71, the chameleon of creativity is working a s hard as ever, she tells Alanna Gallagher.
Barbara Hulanicki is an early riser. My interview with her is scheduled for 6am her time, and she's staying at the Pink Sands Resort on Harbour Island in the Bahamas. It's a working holiday for her. She designed the resort - but more about that later. The septuagenarian remains synonymous with the 1960s. She was there at its epicentre, and is arguably one of the best qualified to recall London's heyday.
Biba the boutique was founded by Hulanicki and her late Irish husband, Stephen "Fitz" Fitz-Simon, and it transformed shopping into an interactive encounter. They were the first to merge fashion, home accessories and live music.
By 1976, Biba had become a brand, answerable to a board of directors. Punk was percolating and Biba was suddenly passé.
Undeterred, Hulanicki went on to design for Cacharel and Fiorucci. At 41 she wrote her memoirs, From A to Biba, and returned briefly to fashion illustration, her first career, to draw Sarah Ferguson's wedding dress for the London Evening Standard.
After a short time in Brazil, she and Fitz moved to Miami. It was a decision that unwittingly launched her in a new career direction.
She was asked to design Woody's, a bar for Rolling Stone Ron Wood. "My contact book goes back to the 1960s. All the bohemians, even the ageing ones, come to me." Hulanicki became a decorator. "I used to get offered jobs as I walked along the beach. I never had to look for work." She transformed several bars and restaurants, but her big break came when she was introduced to Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records.
They were a chromatic match made in heaven. Blackwell, like Hulanicki, was colour mad. He hired her to transform the Marlin Hotel, a run-down joint on Collins Avenue, west of Ocean Drive and at the nexus of what would become South Beach. "You get a chance to go wild on the ground floor of hotels." Reinterpreting the interiors of the Cavalier, the Leslie and Kent hotels followed. As did the "Netherland" condominium building, for which she won an award from the American Institute of Architects.
"When I'm working on a hotel I always prefer to design my furniture rather than buy. You stick your neck out when you do your own designs. Unless you're there in person overseeing every step of the process, mistakes get made."
Basic cubes and rectangles form an integral part of her commercial design. Imitation is, they say, the greatest form of flattery, and these elements are now a staple in most boutique hotels and hip bar interiors.
Private commissions also came a-calling but required a more delicate touch. "They're very intimate because they go on for such a long time. You really have to like your client." Hulanicki's greatest relationship was with pop stars Gloria and Emilio Estefan - she designed their home on Star Island in the early 1990s. "I did an outdoor entertainment room with a cinema and muslin curtains. It was quite monochromatic. I was going through my Bali period. I stripped everything back."
Her personal style is more eclectic. "I tried minimalism at home and I think I lasted about two weeks. I change my mind a lot, which means I've acquired a lot of stuff. I tend to store the excess or give them away, which doesn't make me feel as guilty. I go through masses of lamps and chairs and knick-knacks."
Despite her flair for making houses and hotels look wonderful, she doesn't like to play house. "I have the pretence of a kitchen with a good-looking fridge, a nice kettle to make coffee and a nice-looking toaster. I don't cook. My fridge is empty."
When fashion's wheel took another turn, Hulanicki's big colour interiors began to look dated. Marcel Wanders, Philippe Starck and Ian Schrager took the hotel concept back to the drawing board, with mixed success, says Hulanicki.
"Architects are now designing, and it makes the mood far too masculine and minimal. Women are the ones who make decisions." Is the boutique hotel experience over? "It's a waste of your time, not a waste of your money." Fans of city breaks should pick a destination rather than a hotel and go off-grid. "Try to get word-of-mouth recommendations rather than relying on travel guides."
Like many of her 1960s counterparts, Hulanicki is having another moment. She's in good company. Fabric designer Celia Birtwell is back on top through her Topshop collaborations. Twiggy has resuscitated Marks & Spencer. "Twiggy is so nice. The old doll's got pulling power." With the rediscovery of Celia Birtwell's extensive back catalogue, other home and fashion houses are keen to satisfy the public's endless romance with retro. Habitat recently commissioned Biba to design a series of rugs and cushions for their stores.
Design commissions, like buses, seem to come in twos or more. Graham & Brown, the wallpaper people, are also in talks with her. "Wallpaper is probably the single best concealer in the interior arsenal. It covers up cracks on walls, by using it on only one wall you can create a very modern mood . . . There's so much scope in wallpaper, although it's not very good in the Bahamas," laughs Hulanicki, who spends some of her time there. "The paper falls down the walls."
She's also returning to the fashion front. "I'm doing a project for America's Home Shopping Network, trying to upgrade what they sell. There'll be lots of accessories, quilted bags and hats all featuring my illustrations."
As an interior designer she's keen to rehabilitate DIY decorators. Stop and think, she says. "Don't rush the way your first home looks. Most people become manic, running around trying to finish it all before they even move in. That's a big mistake. Take it slow and take the time to find and bring in the things you really like, that mean something to you."
Glitz can kill the mood, she says. "Too many gorgeous things set out in one room can look dreadful. Mix the simple with the very busy." And mistakes can usually be rectified, but you need a right-hand man, she adds. "I have a wonderful chap called Pepe who can turn his hand to anything. He doesn't build. But he can put up shelves, paint and transform something mediocre into a wonderful object in its own right. He finishes and adapts. Everyone should have a Pepe."
She looks good for 71. Getting old is, she says, a relief. "As you get older you want to get rid of the past. You want to downsize and experience new things. Your nostalgia for what's been goes. It's like a last gasp." She's not keen to explore the extreme cosmetic procedures that make mutton look like breakfast. "They end up looking like a pre-cooked sausage - their skin is so thin that you can see all the veins underneath."
She thinks that those of us who didn't experience the 1960s really missed out, from a business perspective. "Everything nowadays is very corporate. Individualism can't get through the army of suits that is big business's infantry - it's trial by team."
Interior-wise she remains a fan of "Hollywood regency style", which celebrates the sets of the Golden Age of Hollywood. This is at least her second time around it, she says, and the same goes for most other fashion trends.
Yet she's not jaded, and perhaps that's the secret to her success - to be able to embrace old looks with a fresh attitude. "I'm watching all the returning trends with great interest. Fashion always comes back but usually with a new quirk. Every style is recycled. So much new stuff is recycled but there's always a twist. Rococo ornamentation is back but the way it's presented to the new generation is in a language they understand."
There's another book planned. "There's a whole Biba industry and I thought I'd better join it. I do not want memories. They now make me so terribly sad. I want a nice clean slate."
What does Hulanicki want to do next? She'd like to explore set design and film-making. In the meantime she has one essential piece of interior advice: leave leopard-skin out of your decorating plans. "Anything animal is great on clothes but 'ugh' in interiors."
Barbara Hulanicki's cushions and rug collection is available through Habitat, prices from €45 for cushions and €575 for the rug www.barbarahulanickidesign.com .