The first time I met Nicole, my world was quite different than what I am doing now, I was the global commercial director at Nicholas Kirkwood, a luxury brand under LVMH fashion group, I had teams in different functions across commercial from retail to wholesale and Ecommerce, I traveled more than 70% a year, meaning around 250 days I would be away from home. Nicole was the image assistant in the Art department. I remembered that I was rather excited because I could see another Asian face in the office, but of course we hardly spoke as I was never around. I know it sounded strange but since I entered the world of fashion in 2001, I often would be the only Asian in any offices in the UK or Europe, so I am always happy to see the world has become more diverse and offering various positions to talents.
Fast forward to end 2019, I engineered phasing out my full on consulting projects as wanted to be more focused on my family life especially to be with my young kids, without knowing soon after we would be in this pandemic. I then started to be more active on social media and channeling my energy to help young talents, and naturally I linked more with Nicole, and I just love everything she does, she’s more than an artist, she’s a multi dimensional individual, she’s an advocator for the minority, and through her art you see her journey.
What I loved the most about Nicole as an artist and creator, she is also an entrepreneur, she follows her own step and her own space starting out in her final year of uni, with this great on-line magazine called Femfazine to explore the culture of streetwear by women, she felt strongly to increase women’s voice through streetwear brands and sports as surfing, skateboarding and hiphop, something typically we see men starting out. Through this work she started to collaborate with brands as Vans, ASOS etc with her embroidery art.
Late 2020 she explored further to collaborate with mainstream luxury women’s wear brand Victoria Beckham, which personally I loved that collaboration, I think art should be something beautiful and easy to eyes, I admire artists who can understand the norm as well as have her (or his) space for more creative pieces.
Nicole, born and raised in Hong Kong, she’s not a typical girly asian loving barbies, her childhood experience was very vibrant with wide interests, when I realised she belongs to Victoria Park Vixen FC, I must say my admiration to this young woman is to another level, she plays football! How cool is that?!
Right after our chat, I decided to commission Nicole to make a piece of art for me, a vintage Hermes Scarf that was gifted to me but I would never either wear or even frame it, she worked non stop for 10 days and created this beautiful Roaring Garden, noting how my family is care for nature, sustainability and how my kids adore animals and care for their lives. We love this piece so much, how beautiful is this! See below!
My interview with Nicole was taken in November last year, you can see this soft spoken wonderful girl’s determination to create her own world, something I can’t praise enough, so she is #MySmartCookie!
Checkout my conversation with Nicole on my IGTV, link here.
Follow Nicole Chui on Instagram @thatsewnicole. FemFamzine https://www.instagram.com/femfamzine/ Her website link. *all images are courtesy of Nicole Chui and me! Please ask for permission if you wish to use for any purpose, thanks.
Enjoy my interview and story? Please follow my instagram for more updates and news @kfyangoconnor. See you in the virtual world!
中文：
第一次見妮可時，我的世界與現在大不相同，我是LVMH集團旗下奢侈品牌尼古拉斯·柯克伍德（Nicholas Kirkwood）的全球商業總監，我擁有從零售到批發再到商業的不同職能團隊電子商務，我每年旅行超過70％，這意味著我將離開家大約250天。妮可是藝術部門的影像助理。我記得我當時很興奮，因為我可以在辦公室看到另一張亞洲面孔，但是當然我們幾乎沒有說話，因為我從未在身邊。我知道這聽起來很奇怪，但是自從2001年進入時尚界以來，我經常會成為英國或歐洲任何辦事處中唯一的亞洲人，因此我總是很高興看到世界變得更加多樣化，並提供各種職位與人才。
快進到2019年底，我打算逐步停曼諮詢項目，希望更加專注於我的家庭生活，和我年幼的孩子一起，只是當時沒想到我們很快就會陷入ＣＯＶＩＤ大疫情。我慢慢開始在社交媒體上變得更加活躍，並發揮自己的力量來幫助年輕的才華，自然地，我與妮可建立了更多的聯繫，我愛她所做的一切，她不僅僅是一名藝術家，而且還是少數派的倡導者，她的藝術，你可以看到她的旅程。
妮可（Nicole）是一名藝術家和創作者，我最欣賞的是，她也是一名年輕企業家，她在大學的最後一年跟隨自己的腳步和自己的空間，與這本名為《 Femfazine》的在線雜誌探討文化對於女性的街頭服飾，她強烈地通過衝浪，滑板和街舞等街頭服飾品牌和體育活動來增加女性的聲音，因為我們通常只會看到的男性的創意。通過這項工作，她開始與Vans，ASOS等品牌合作刺繡藝術。
2020年末，她進一步探索了與主流奢侈女裝品牌Victoria Beckham的合作，我個人很喜歡這種合作。我認為藝術應該是美麗而易見的事物，我欣賞能夠理解規範並擁有她的藝術家（或他的）空間，以創作更多創意。
妮可（Nicole）在香港出生和成長，她不是典型的亞洲少女般的熱愛芭比娃娃，她的童年經歷非常活躍，興趣廣泛，當我意識到她是維多利亞狐狸足球俱樂部的成員時，我必須說，我對這個年輕女士的欽佩是另一個層次，她會踢足球！太酷啊？！
訪談完後，我決定委託妮可為我製作一件藝術品，重新改創複古愛馬仕絲巾，，她不停地工作了10天，創造出了一件漂亮的咆哮花園（Roaring Garden），指出我的家人如何照顧大自然，可持續發展以及我的孩子如何愛護動物並關愛自己的生命。我們非常喜歡這塊，這有多美！見下文！
我與妮可的採訪是在去年11月進行的，您可以看到這位溫文爾雅的漂亮女孩決心創造自己的世界，這是我無法稱讚的決心，所以她就是#MySmartCookie！
Enjoy my interview and story? Please follow my instagram for more updates and news @kfyangoconnor. See you in the virtual world!
Kuofi O'Connor 