Spirit Meets....
1.Tell us about your company and the products that you offer.
Nicola Watters creates beautiful home furnishings and accessories all made in the UK from finest quality materials with great attention to detail. From Nicola’s watercolour artwork fine art prints are made, each mounted in hand painted hardwood frames using Farrow and Ball paint. Designs are then applied to a range of accessories including fine linen cushions, stationery and bone china mugs. Nicola’s work is inspired by the countryside around her farmhouse studio in rural Hertfordshire and summers spent in family homes in Devon and Cornwall. The essence of the brand is to celebrate the beautiful, subtle colours of nature and to bring a touch of the seaside and countryside into your home.
2. Tell us how your company has grown since you first launched.
Nicola Watters Design is a new company launched just last summer and we are going from
strength to strength. Nicola’s background, post degree in Illustration, was a career in design
working for textile designers Collier Campbell, licensing her work through Art Marketing UK and
recently producing watercolours for Laura Ashley. Initially, only prints and stationery were available through the website but, in the last year, we have expanded our range and enjoyed meeting our customers at Gift Fairs. We will increase our selection of home accessories over the next six months and are working on seasonal ranges.
3. What sets your product apart from your competitors?
All our designs are inspired by nature and often originate from Nicola’s handmade collages of
‘natural finds’. Nicola is an avid collector of pebbles, flint, feathers and seashells. She captures the
charm and delicacy of these natural treasures in watercolour and translates the designs on to her
range of home accessories and gifts. We pay great attention to detail, nothing is mass produced,
everything is made in the UK and we are proud to be supporting British manufacturing and thus
keeping British craftsmanship alive.
4. Is there a unique story behind your business, business name or logo?
When I was a child I spent hours with my Grandmother gathering shells on Granny’s Bay in
Lytham. She taught me the rhyme ‘She Sells Seashells’. The first collage I made has this title and
is in her memory. When my children were young I made a few similar collages and sold them in a
local gift shop. They were spotted by an art marketing company. I went on to licence the designs
and replicas were sold nationwide. A few years later I decided to paint the collages in watercolour
and that was the start of my business!
(below ‘She Sells Seashells’ collage, china mugs and framed print).
5. Share five adjectives or words that best describe your company?
Unique, charming, elegant, exquisitely British.
6. What/who inspires you to create your new lines/products.
Nature is my inspiration. I have an enviable lifestyle living/working from a beautiful old farmhouse
with a studio overlooking open fields and wildlife. Summers are spent in family homes in Rock and
Salcombe, the great British seaside! Often I will feature a design/collage on Instagram. If it gets a
good response and there are lots of ‘likes’ from my lovely followers I will capture the collage in a
watercolour painting. This happened recently with ‘Feathers and Flint’ which I am delighted to be
launching at the Spirit of Summer.
7. What primary message do you want to convey to your customers?
We are proud to say that all our designs originate from Nicola’s original collages and watercolours
and that all our products are produced in the UK and are exquisitely British. We want to celebrate the countryside, the seaside and the beauty of nature.
8. What is your best selling product, and what do you believe makes it so popular?
Our best selling products are the Five Blue Mussels and Flurry of Feathers prints.
Blue Mussels is popular because the colours are strong yet the artwork is delicate, and there are
several other prints in the series to coordinate with it (Sea Crab, Two Mackerel, Blue Lobster, and
now two new prints : Simply Stones and John Dory which will launch at the fair).
Flurry of Feathers captures the beauty and delicacy of feathers and the subtle colours are true to
nature.
9. Are you launching any new products/lines at the fair?
Yes, several new watercolour prints : ‘Feathers and Flint’, to coordinate with the ‘Fauna’ collection,
and ‘Quintet of Oysters,’ ‘Catch of the Day’, ‘Simply Stones’ and ‘John Dory’ to co-ordinate with the
‘Beach’ collection of products.
10. What do you believe are the key trends for Summer 2016?
Key trends for summer feature indigo blues captured in our Seaside blues prints and feathers are
incredibly on trend right now (although we’ve always loved them!).
11. What is your personal favourite product and why?
My personal favourite is Flurry of Feathers linen cushion because I love feathers, and I loved
painting this arrangement. I adore the buttermilk cream linen and I am proud of the quality of the
product, the attention to detail with the piping, brand logo and feather pad. I was also delighted to
work with the renowned, textile printers Standfast and Barracks in printing this cushion and then I
sourced another British manufacturer in Rochdale to sew the cushions. My Lancashire ancestors
were textile industrialists and it was wonderful to work with my father on this project.
12. Will you have any special offers or competitions running during the Fair?
Yes. For the duration of the fair we are reducing the prices slightly on china mugs, cushions and
small prints.
Very Top: The Nicola Watters stand at the Spirit ofSummer Fair 2016
Top : ‘Flurry of Feathers’ Linen Cushion, ‘Sea Crab’ and ‘Five Blue Mussels’ Framed prints.
Middle: ‘Rolling Stones’ Linen Cushion, ‘She Sells Seashells’ china mugs
Bottom: Bow Card Stationery packs, ‘Lovely Feathers’ watercolour print.