Nicole Lawrence Studio is very proud to be a female-led, locally produced creative business. We make everything to order and we thought we would explain why.
Every business has small beginnings and this is no exception for Nicole. For most of the first year, every piece that left the studio was designed, sanded, welded, and transported by Nicole personally. Nicole’s vision for this business was to create beautiful, unique products that are placed with pride into her client’s homes. Being a one-woman show meant she didn’t have endless resources or capital at her disposal, or access to any more hours in the day than the next person so Nicole’s decision was to let the business grow organically and only as fast as demand allowed.
This ethos still continues and for the majority of the work that is available - it doesn’t get made until someone chooses they would like to own it. This has a myriad of benefits for both the client and also for our humble business, our supply chain, and the environment.
Customisation & Commissions
Offering a large range of furniture, lighting and objects in a variety of colours, sizes and shapes allows each NLS client the opportunity to fully customise a piece for their space.
Whether the object’s personalisation comes into play within elements of scale, colour, or purpose - the ability to do so comes only with a made-to-order system.
This unbound creative process allows Nicole and each client to consider many options when conceptualising a piece for their home or project. It’s this careful type of consideration that often results in an object that is perfectly suited to it’s forever home and cherished with pride.
Slow Manufacturing & Quality
The process of customisation and selection of the perfect NLS piece by the client is followed by a wait time while the studio produces this piece to these exact specifications. This slower process is intended to mitigate impulse purchasing which can lead to the dreaded “buyers remorse”. Our goal is to have every piece of NLS work purchased with clear intent and excitement, with the intention of using it for the years to come.
Not creating an excessive stock of a particular design means that NLS can be agile in design developments, always able to improve and develop the products if required. Yes, we could save money per piece by doing larger runs of our pieces but the negative impact of this outweighs the benefits.
Waste Reduction
When referring to waste, we mean both physical and financial waste. By not holding stock of our pieces we avoid any overproduction of pieces which could result in stock obsolescence. No resources are being used until they need to be which in turn reduces waste of materials.
With a strong emphasis on sustainable practices and resource efficiencies, NLS takes great pride in the conservation of materials, time and energy throughout each process.
Also, it’s no secret that running a small business is hard - it involves long hours, risk-taking and agility.
By allowing our clients to determine the rate of growth of our business, it means we can maintain our financial stability to ensure our studio is here to stay.
Compact Team
Though once a woman show, the team has grown over the last year - all thanks to our amazing client’s support. This means that each piece is made to order by either Nicole or someone from our fabrication team at our studio in Northcote. Any process that isn’t performed within our studio is reliant on the expertise of a cohort of Melbourne based industry experts.
Creating to order ensures that these small-scale producers can retain their own autonomy, as well as ensuring that careful consideration and great quality are met. The supply chain of every NLS piece is reliant on the next, and so this slower means of creation ensures our industries can grow together creating quality products.
Having only a select number of hands working on each object provides the assurance that each piece is delivered to its receiver exactly as it was designed.