MEET THE MAKER

Nikki Heaton

Nikki Heaton resides and works from her home in the picturesque town of Royal Leamington Spa, UK . A Product Designer by education, a diverse and multidisciplinary career - spanning 20 years - has taken Nikki to some huge in-house global design studios from well known brands around the world - to include Mondelēz, Nokia and Jaguar Design.

In most recent years her specialism within the Colour and Material Design field - of the luxury market - has given her an impeccable eye for detail, aesthetic and craftsmanship.

Integral to the leap from ‘Designer’ to ‘Artist’ was the birth of her son during the pandemic in 2020.

In a recent interview on These Four Walls Blog , Nikki explains; “I’m not who I was anymore, I’ve experienced a shift in so many senses. It was completely unexpected and unplanned, but I just needed to create a new type of life, away from the chaos and pace and deadline culture of big brand in-house design…and I just needed deeply to be there for him full time - especially in the early years”.

Product Designer, Artist, Colour Consultant.

Armed with a new sense of purpose and drive, Nikki now dedicates her years of multidisciplinary design knowledge to the art world.

Influenced by her skilled and creative seamstress mother the world of textiles has always felt like home:

“My most comforting memories from my childhood are those of the sound of my mums sewing machine as I was drifting off to sleep… A few years ago I inherited my mum’s first ever sewing machine… It’s slow. It’s pretty unreliable; and I’m sure it has an electrical fault; but it makes time rewind when I press my foot against the pedal and I simply adore it”.

To pass the joy of creation onto the next generation; at first they must see it in action.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Crafting the stories of the human experience through the medium of textile.

I have always been captivated by the ways in which people experience and perceive life, and how it might differ from my own. We progress through life acquiring a rich patina of individualised experience + consciousness.

But what does this consciousness look like? What is the texture of expectation? How muted is the colour of judgement and fear? And what shape is our joy or our pain? 

My work intends to visualise mental narratives: a form of storytelling that I believe we can all relate to - A place to celebrate the beautiful and the broken.

My mum is a seamstress: I grew up comforted night after night, by the sound of her sewing machine as a drifted off to sleep. Her creative influence has been instrumental in my career and my love of textiles.

My mum is a seamstress: I grew up comforted night after night, by the sound of her sewing machine as a drifted off to sleep. Her creative influence has been instrumental in my career and my love of textiles.

Layers of linen interweave; multiple layers of paint and weathering set the linen in solid formation. An eventual haptic ‘tapestry’ is formed: ‘memories’ captured forever in visual formation.

Layers of linen interweave; multiple layers of paint and weathering set the linen in solid formation. An eventual haptic ‘tapestry’ is formed: ‘memories’ captured forever in visual formation.

I inherited my mum’s sewing machine a few years ago; sewing with it feels such a meaningful and cyclical journey...

I inherited my mum’s sewing machine a few years ago; sewing with it feels such a meaningful and cyclical journey...

Signature stitches link the shapes and forms creating metaphorical references linked to the raw human experience & consciousness: this journey we are all on.

Signature stitches link the shapes and forms creating metaphorical references linked to the raw human experience & consciousness: this journey we are all on.