They say having a baby will change your life. We always assume they mean what happens when the little human becomes forever a part of your journey. But how often do you hear a story where actually having the baby – literally with you for the 9 months before his arrival – gives birth to so much more than what you had bargained for? This is Nicki’s story – founder of ceramics brand Love Milo and her desire for a life of creativity.
Nicki has been in creative environments most of her life, yet always holding great ideas and visions for a brand of her own. Many of those creative years were spent working as a film colour grader and photographer, but Nicky says she was never satisfied as she always felt as though she was working on somebody else’s vision, a realisation which tends to stunt any creative process.
While pregnant with her first son, Nicki was suddenly overcome with a sudden feeling of mortality, “it was a catalyst for me to live in integrity with myself and be a role-model for the people I now would leave behind”. She began to find inspiration everywhere from the simple, yet wonderful things in life. In face she had so many ideas and images flooding her creative brain, Nicki felt as though they were actually coming from the infant inside her. And so her love for Milo, the little growing boy in her belly, also brought life to Love Milo. But creative epiphanies are never that clear cut and sometimes it’s more about trusting the whim, the gut and the intuition fluttering inside you, like a steady heartbeat, whispering ‘yes’.
“To be honest, I didn’t really know what I was going to make, I just quit my job, rented a studio and started making things I liked. I used my photography in my work but started experimenting with ways of bringing it off the walls and frames onto more three-dimensional spaces that could be used in daily life so ceramics is where I started.”Nicky used photography in her work, but she began experimenting with ways of bringing it off the walls and frames and onto more three-dimensional spaces that could be used in daily life, so ceramics was her next step in the journey.
When it comes to maintaining a steady flow of inspiration, Nicky says she never really has to go looking for it, it almost always comes to her, whether it’s through the beautifully shaped tree or leaf or the unique lines and forms found in nature, “Something will catch my eye and then start creeping into my thoughts, that’s when I know to continue with it”.
One of her signature creations, the ‘Butterfly Wings’ design came to life inside her Woodstock studio, when her son Milo brought her a dead butterfly to photograph. She has created a brand based on the beauty of perfect imperfection. For Nicky, it is the images, the imperfection of the images and also the combination of materials that make Love Milo unique.