STUDIO NICHOLSON
DESCRIBED AS, “CAREFULLY ENGINEERED FOR THE ULTIMATE MODULAR WARDROBE”, STUDIO NICHOLSON IS THE ARCHITECTURAL AND JAPANESE-INSPIRED FUSION DELIVERED BY SUCCESSFUL DESIGNER, NICK WAKEMAN. MINIMALIST, BOLD, AND LUXURIOUS, THESE PIECES HAVE BEEN CRAFTED TO PERFECTION. FROM A BASS WOOL AND CASHMERE WRAPPED SEAM DRESS TO THE BRUNEL BALLOON DOUBLE PANT; EACH GARMENT IS THE PERFECT INGREDIENT FOR A SLEEK, MODULAR WARDROBE.
WE SIT DOWN WITH NICK IN HER STUDIO TO FIND OUT MORE.
Hi Nick, tell us, firstly, where are you from?
Nick: I’m completely English. There are other bits and pieces but I was born in Nottingham and grew up in Hampshire. I’ve lived in London for most of my life, for 25 years.
Where did you study?
Nick: I went to the Chelsea School of Arts and studied Textiles. I learnt how to print, weave, knit and I specialised in print.
Is print something you’d return to further down the line?
Nick: No I’ve locked myself out of print. Before Studio Nicholson, I had another brand, which was only sold in Japan and it was entirely print. I made my own prints, I’ve never brought prints and we would do prints all over jerseys and linings. It’s incredibly complicated, it’s technical and it’s a very expensive process. I fell out of love with it massively.
It’s funny that you should say that because in your collection the tones are very muted.
Nick: Yes, I’ve never loved colour, even my prints are monochrome. I like colour in knitwear but I don’t have it at home or wear it myself. I still can’t bear it.
When it comes to dressing yourself, let’s talk about Studio Nicholson, as it is based on a monochrome wardrobe.
Nick: When I started the brand, I looked at what I really wear. Between the previous brand and this brand, I took a few years off to really think about and looked at who I was, what I liked, how I got dressed in the morning, what was in my wardrobe and what were the perfect key pieces I always went back to. Because I know there are other women out there who dress like that or would like to. I got the ideas together and there it was in front of me.
HERE WAS THIS BEAUTIFUL CAPSULE WARDROBE AND YOU LOOKED TOUGH, YOU LOOK BOYISH, YOU LOOKED LIKE YOU DIDN’T CARE. THIS EFFORTLESS LOOK GOES INTO EACH COLLECTION AND THAT IS WHAT WE ESSENTIALLY DO.
IMAGE BY STUDIO NICHOLSON
You worked for Diesel and Marks & Spencers, were they more menswear related?
Nick: So Diesel, I did menswear there and that was my first job. Then I did M&S menswear shirts; I could do that with my eyes shut but there was no creativity. I learnt all my stuff from there; it was the best sales-based designing training in a way, and I still use those skills every day.
So your career was really carved out from a young age?
Nick: Mum was an interior designer and I would adapt patterns. I’d draw stuff, she’d draw stuff. She was making tiny little Melton coats from when I was a baby. She’d buy materials and make ‘gippier’ layers on collars and later on, I’d be like ‘Can we get buttons from my uncle in Hong Kong and do this?’ I really knew what I wanted; I’d make my mother make them.
Do you do any of the pattern making?
Nick: No. I have exceptional pattern cutters who I work with. I understand it but I don’t have the patience for it. I don’t have the patience for weaving and knitting and I’ve knitted myself into a sewing machine millions of times. Although I’ve got so much patience for drawing. In fact, when I was 10, I remember my uncle asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up and I replied, ‘I just want to be a drawer’.
I notice with your collection, you’ve had a lot of Japanese influences in your design.
Nick: Yes we do but we also have this incredible synergy between Japan and the UK. My old brand only really sold in Japan and was manufactured in Europe. When I started this brand I hooked up with a really old friend who was a distributor. He had a look at the old collection and really loved it and said ‘I’d take it’. We have a very special relationship with Japan, honing that relationship; we’re producing a lot more in England with home-based fabrics. We’re opening a pop up next year in Tokyo. It just seems to work in Japan. I know why but I won’t tell anyone, it’s a trade secret!
We read online that when it comes to getting ideas you start from fabric swatches?
Nick: Always, yeah I think that’s from the textiles degree that I have. That’s where it starts, that where it ends. It’s what excites me the most, fabric.
Do you start collating mood boards or imagery for how the collection will look?
Nick: No, I don’t do any of that. I have a little file on the phone of images that I keep quite secret and I just keep looking at them. Everything stays in my head. And then I start sketching, cutting up bits of fabric and deciding where it goes. Then I start working with pattern cutters and that’s how those ideas are brought to life.
There is a movement of people who are more conscious about how they consume now.
Nick: Yes that a very good point and it’s something Charlie (Charlie Mellor, Product Director for the menswear business, and former Head of Design at Fred Perry) and I have talked about a huge amount. What do you stand for as a brand? How do you treat people? How do the people you work with treat other people? How conscious is it? The carbon footprint of your garments. It’s something we’re really thinking about.
Charlie: Funnily enough, we’ve found that men more so than women, really do care about the provenance and the origins of the materials and manufacturing environment, particularly when we get into denim and outerwear. It’s about whether it’s a British cloth, or if it is a Japanese denim, is the construction right? Men get geekier about that side of fashion and clothing.
CHARLIE: WE’VE MOVED OUR DENIM PRODUCTION FROM HONG KING TO WALTHAMSTOW, NOT JUST BECAUSE OF THE CARBON FOOTPRINT BUT BECAUSE WE FOUND THAT A GUY IN WALTHAMSTOW THAT CAN MAKE A BETTER DENIM TROUSER OR JEAN THAN THE GUY WE WERE PREVIOUSLY USING. WE LOVE THE FACT THAT WE’RE PRODUCING IN BRITAIN AND WE’RE PRODUCING ON OUR DOORSTEP. WE’RE NOT USING THEM JUST BECAUSE THEY’RE THERE. THEY ARE ARTISANS IN TERMS OF THEIR APPROACH TO HOW THEY MAKE THINGS.
IMAGE BY STUDIO NICHOLSON
Touching on menswear and what you said, is it because men have that mentality of ‘made to last’?
Charlie: If you think about the way men dress and the way they consume, they are not as excited, they are less interested in seasonality in fashion. You break down a man’s wardrobe and the way they buy and conversely they can be much more fascinated with the detail. They’re a bit more consistent in the way that they’re a bit like sheep, once they get into something they get into it and they follow the herd.
If you had to choose 3 words or a phrase to describe Studio Nicholson what would they be and why?
Nick: “We create considered pieces that are carefully engineered for the ultimate modular wardrobe.” What does it mean to me? Everything, Christ! This is really sad, but without my business, I really don’t know who I would be. It’s where I grew up; I only grew up in the last 8 years. I’m an eternal Peter Pan character, ha-ha. Ultimately, it makes me really happy.
It’s like your lifeline?
Nick: Not my lifeline, if you took it away tomorrow I wouldn’t have any regrets, I’ve done it, it’s great. I’m quite resilient like that.
Where do you want to go in the next year or two?
Nick: I have a 2-year plan and there’s a 10-year plan. We know exactly what we’re doing every minute of that.
Was there was a reason why you decided to launch womenswear, then menswear?
NICK: SOMEONE’S ASKED ME THAT BEFORE AND THE ONLY ANSWER I HAVE IS, I’M A WOMAN AND I WANTED TO WEAR WHAT I MADE. THE WHOLE POINT OF ABOUT MAKING THIS COLLECTION WAS “HERE’S ALL THESE MENSWEAR PIECES THAT I LOVE AND I COVET, AND THEY DON’T FIT ME QUITE AS WELL AS I THOUGHT THEY SHOULD, SO LET’S REIMAGINE THEM AND MAKE THEM FIT WOMEN”. THAT’S WHERE WE STARTED WITH THE INITIAL BLOCKS AND PATTERNS.
Throughout the whole process, from starting the brand to now, what have been your highlights and lowlights, and what would you have changed?
Nick: Nothing. There are no highlights or lowlights, it’s all part and parcel of the job unfortunately. Life happens, as it should. You try your hardest and you get on with it. It’ll always be perfect. Ultimately, it’s about trust, trusting that things will always work out OK. And once you have trust, life’s a doddle.
More from Studio Nicholson here.
IMAGE BY STUDIO NICHOLSON
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