The art of coming together with Nikki McWilliams
Nikki McWilliams is the designer and artist behind her namesake homeware and accessories label, which she founded in 2009. The designer and artist is based in Alloa, a town in Central Scotland between Edinburgh and Glasgow, and creates a range of goods, from pillow cushions to enamel pins, that often draw inspiration from the ritual of taking tea and the social worlds built around food. As a contributor to the Adobe Express Print artist series, she brings an energy that plays on nostalgia, comfort, and simple pleasures.
While studying Fine Art at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, McWilliams began to sow the seeds of what would eventually become her business.
“I did a lot of soft sculpture when I was there. I was making these art objects out of fabric, and I was using a lot of the same materials, like fabric and stuffing,” she recalled. “They were very different from functional objects — they were these art pieces that really belonged in a gallery.”
What would become a major point of inspiration emerged out of mundane circumstances and reckoning with feelings of creative suspension.
“One of the reasons why I started using biscuits as a motif when I was at art school was because I felt really stuck. I felt like everyone around me was more talented than I was, like everyone has better ideas than me,” she remembered. “So I was like, I'm just gonna sit and have a cup of tea and a biscuit, and then I started drawing the biscuits.”
Slowing down and allowing herself to be present in the moment enabled McWilliams to connect with ideas that unfolded into the broader creative world she has built since. It had been her intention to develop her career as a fine artist, but that didn’t go as planned.
“Nobody wanted to buy my fine art pieces — nobody wanted to buy that stuff. I ended up just making a couple of cushions for my own home,” she said. McWilliams sought to solve the problem of beautifying her space. “I had moved into this flat. It was really small; it was really dingy. I [wanted] to make [it] feel like mine, I want[ed] to bring a little bit of color and... make it feel like my own home,” she said.
It was instead when she zoomed in on what she connected with that her work began to generate interest. She shared photos of some of her creations and her network took notice. By connecting to the simple pleasures of food and family, McWilliams began to carve out her lane. Her father is Scottish and her mother is Greek Cypriot, and while she says the cultures are wildly different, there is a common interest in food.
“In Cypriot culture, everything revolves around food,” she said. “I just remember being around family members and everyone is just so excited about what they’re either making or cooking or eating next. It’s the same in Scotland, but the food culture is so different.”
Her heritage and proximity to the customs of gathering around food influence her style and the motifs that make up much of her creative practice. Many of her cushions reference food and food packaging, including her decade-long collaboration with Tunnock’s, a family-run Scottish biscuit company that was founded in 1890.
“I love old packaging, anything that makes you feel some sort of happy memory,” she explained. “The whole thing of biscuits for me is it reminds me of good times.”
With food being a universal need, it establishes threads of connection and allows for small moments of joy throughout the day. The way McWilliams describes these quiet moments is almost meditative, prioritizing relaxation and clearing her mind.
“I look forward to my break in the afternoon where I have a cup of tea and a biscuit, and I think sometimes for me, the down time between work, when you're having that little moment to yourself, is when the ideas start to come.”
There is an aspect of this process for her that involves stepping back and not attempting to create.
“When I'm not trying, when I'm relaxing, when I've got my favorite drink and snack in front of me, that's when the gears in my head start turning.”
Building her business was also partially the influence of her family. Her parents were makers also, and though it wasn’t a conscious decision for McWilliams to take up the torch, it was baked into her understanding of things growing up.
“My parents ran a business of their own when I was little, so they made kids’ clothes and things. There were always things being made with fabric in our house and in their workshop,” she recalled.
“My mum, in particular, she immigrated from Cyprus to the UK when she was four, and I remember she told me how, when she was a 10-year-old child, she would come home from school and then help her parents sew little dresses to take to the market in London on the weekends,” McWilliams explained.
As one of the artists in the Adobe Express Print series, McWilliams says she uses printing for a range of products, including fabric for cushions, notepads, art prints, postcards, stickers, as well as her packaging. Her box takeover for the project includes an orange gingham print that recalls a tablecloth and features the tagline “Creative Snacks to Inspire,” surrounded by illustrated fruits.
Home and the visuals of her surroundings continue to be a point of inspiration and influence for McWilliams. Living in Alloa, which can be cold and rainy, McWilliams seeks to create warmth in her work.
“I have this need to make the spaces around me really cozy and warm, so that’s probably part of the reason that I got into making soft furnishings in the first place,” she suggested. “I like spaces to be really inviting and cozy around me.”
Color is a major part of this and is a key aspect in her work. In working to create a cozier world for herself, McWilliams has extended that to fans of her practice.
“I'm looking at the window right now and the sky is gray, it’s just not the most colorful place. So, I think, for me, being able to bring a little bit of color into that landscape is quite satisfying,” she said. “I like being surrounded by colorful things and I think that color really can affect you in different ways, like it can improve your mood.”
In recent years, McWilliams has been more intentional about creating her home space in a way that reflects her personality and sense of style. Part of that has been giving herself permission to do so; harnessing this sense of agency is one of the things that she suggests makes life worth living.
“[Being] a grown up is really hard. Sometimes it's a lot of work and sometimes I do feel fed up with it and just having colorful, joyful things in your life is a nice way to kind of give yourself little nuggets of joy, like amongst all of the things that are challenging, you know?”
By sharing the nuggets that give her joy, McWilliams has extended the same to others, bringing warmth into homes near and far.
Are you ready to start your own project? Click here to explore Nikki’s curated collection and start creating with her templates made in partnership with Adobe Express!