Nicola graduated from Hereford College of Arts with a First Class Honours in Contemporary Design Craft. She won a Goldsmith’s Precious Metal Bursary and was voted a Craft and Design’s Magazine ‘One to Watch’ in 2015. Whilst travelling around New Zealand, Nicola became fascinated by the outhouses and farm buildings that puncture the land. Despite being built for function, she recognised a beauty and a value in their weathered, scratched and used surfaces. She began to recognise these buildings as places of value, yet they were still 'just' farm outhouses. And so began her exploration into value. Nicola’s use of precious metals combined with non-precious materials, such as steel, highlight this discussion on where value really lies. Nicola also treats the precious metal, "un-preciously", to create the weathered and beaten surfaces seen in New Zealand.