Nicole

Y: Hello Nicole, can you please introduce yourself?

N: I am Nicole and I am the founder and artist/designer behind Cole&cinder, which is currently a ceramic brand and is becoming a more lifestyle centric brand with a range of different items and objects that are useful things in my life. So when I evolve, the brand evolves with me. That’s the idea behind it. It can travel anywhere with me, it’s a versatile brand.

Y: How would you describe your creative process ?

N: I usually come up with a lot of ideas when I am asleep. For example with the vases, I pictured them before I make them. If I’m making something from scratch that is not an order, it’s because I usually dreamt it. I’ve always had this ability to be very conscious when I’m dreaming. My boyfriend usually wakes up around 5am to do some meditation and yoga and ask me quietly to wake up and I will be like yes sure, I’m just finishing something, I’m in the middle of a dream. He always tells people which makes me embarrassed. I’ve always been able to do this, the fact that I can carried on dreams. I can wake up, and then realised that I should finish the dream and so I go back to the dream. It’s been very useful for me. I felt like it’s meditation.

Y: How would you describe the values of your brand ?

N: I didn’t really want my job to feel like a job. I’m not aiming to make only money. Obviously i need to make money but i feel like having the consciousness of not wanting it to be just like that really helps with my attitude towards constantly working. It’s like necessary, when you build a business, to be working constantly to get it where you want it to be. I definitely think it’s a mindset thing to be exhausted and over it. Obviously I get like that a lot, but I think it’s a lot less than if I choose consciously: this is how it is, this is the most amazing thing that I can live from it. That’s also the fact when I hire people and have people work with me. I’m very careful with the people that I choose to know that there are respectful and just to treat everyone as human beings and as you would like to be treated.

I believe you can’t create art and beauty in negativity. I mean I know artists would say that’s not true and that you need “pain” to create beautiful art but I feel like it differences in what kind of art you are creating. The shapes of the vases that I’m making currently are fluid, soft and calm. I think I’ve said this to you before but when I’m in a bad mood or had an argument, basically just having a bad day, like everyone does, I can literally see it in my vases. I can see that it’s not fluid, not soft, it’s harsh, the edges are wrong, it’s messy, so I think that’s the same with the people you work with. If they are not happy, the pieces will not look good.

Y: Where do you draw your inspiration ?

N: People often ask me this question but I don’t really have anyone or anything particularly. Nature is honestly the only thing. Being in nature with its sounds and smells. That stuff inspire me more than other people not because I don’t think that anyone is inspirational. I think everyone is inspirational in their own way. I just haven’t pinpointed someone particularly. I do feel like I’ve been inspired by a lot of people in my life. I would say just like nature formation in general. It gives me ideas for shapes. I guess also life inspires me, especially the routine, like what do you do when you wake up, and what do you use, and try to create more an aesthetic environnement around the everyday stuff.

Y: How did you come up with the name Cole&cinder ?

N: Concerning the name of the brand, people always call me Cole, pretty basic as my name is Nicole. Cinder comes from the reality of me starting and never succeeding when it comes to businesses . Cinder, is what’s left at the end of a fire. From cinder it turns to ash. So just before it’s hash, cinder is still combustible, it can still satellite. I just felt like I’ve always tried so many businesses and would eventually give up thinking that it will never work, almost like in a silly way, and then come back and try again. And here we are, it’s working so far.

Y: What’s next ?

N: I’m working on a bunch of stuff including the jewellery, the umbrellas, doing candles, there is a lot of stuff happening. I’m working on a line with the website that more people can buy. so I have the unique pieces but then I’m gonna do molds of certain pieces, that are more accessible. The production is higher. More people can own a piece. Because obviously, there is not much time to fill the demand though it’s great that we have this demand. Hopefully, I intend to have more production & more products.

Dubai, April 2022