9 minute read
Nikki Chu talks space style up
ASPIRE T.V. is where you will find her. If not designing spaces for celebrities, she will be “unboxing” some goodies for some random people. Or at times, you will find her collaborating with big names in the industry, creating home collections, and also making appearances on T.V. channels, such as HGTV and Lifetime, just to name a few.
Nikki Chu
TALKS SPACE STYLE UP
If you have been following her, like me, you must have noticed that everything she does, she does it all with finesse. Watching her do a home makeover gives me thrills, and it is so easy to tell that she is extraordinaire at what she does. It comes from a place of true passion and a love affair with design that ropes in classic-style sensibilities.
Nikki Chu. A name is that it is so phenomenal in the design industry, not just in Los Angeles, or the country, but in the whole world! In fact, Nikki says that global modernism is the drive of her home line. She gets inspired by all things, from simple textiles to intricate patterns. And this is particularly evident from her large collection of everything home designs with her renowned business Nikki Chu Home. Interior design is her ‘thing,’ and everyone who’s anyone knows that there just a handful of people to call, and Nikki is at the top of that list. Perhaps just to highlight this, she has curated interiors and designed spaces for the likes of Tyra Banks, Nick Cannon, Tisha Campbell, Karrueche Tran, Gabrielle Union, and many others, the list is non-exhaustive, I could go on and on.
BUT WHO IS NIKKI CHU?
We get what she does and the influence she has under her belt, but who is this lady who seems to be rocking the airwaves every time she comes around? Well, Nikki is a celebrity interior designer, author, artist, and entrepreneur, with over 20 years of experience running her own company. She is the one lady who remains atop of a somewhat disproportionate industry, causing massive disruption. She is talented and inventive. She stands as a hard-working, powerful businesswoman in the world of product design and interiors. Born and raised in Toronto, Canada – Nikki has always had a passion for designing since childhood. After realizing her love for the Arts, Nikki attended a specialized design school called the International Academy of Design.
NIKKI SAYS
A quick glance at her Instagram pages or even Pinterest will introduce you to her amazing world and her unique tastes of professionalism. Nikki considers these two platforms as her source of inspiration and a great visual source for ideas. While born and raised in Toronto, she finds herself torn in between L.A. and Dallas.
NIKKI credits education to being the catalyst in her career
LET’S GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING
The journey to interior design began long ago in her mother’s craft room, which was filled with everything a girl could ever ask for, from fabrics to glue guns, and it is here that passion began to grow. This was a place where Nikki would be lost in her own world of imagination; she was free to run wild and try out every ‘crazy’ design she could imagine. This is the place that bolstered her confidence in art as she spent countless hours cutting, sewing, and pasting together clothing and topiaries. It was also the place where she designed some award-winning designs that placed in her school art shows. These were the little efforts that at the time seemed big, that confirmed that she was meant for greatness. Twenty years later… look at what she has achieved!
LIFE AT GEORGE BROWN COLLEGE
In all fairness, the design industry is one of the industries where there only a handful of brown faces, and the ones that are there, are spread far between; however, this has not deterred Nikki from achieving great milestones. While it is true that she has a keen design eye, Nikki credits education to being the catalyst in her career.
She went to George Brown College in Toronto and studied graphic design. She later dived into courses on color theory, patterns, and illustrations while simultaneously working on programs such as Photoshop and InDesign. “It honed in my design skill abilities. It gave me a focus. And it taught me how to do it on the computer, and all of the programs that now I use every single day of my life,” she says. Life is about information, if you have the right information, you are unstoppable, and Nikki has shown this quite remarkably. Education has given her career an edge up on her competition. Rather than sending her portfolio on a paper, she used to submit it digitally through the e-mail. By the time she was graduating, she had turned down four job offers.
At 23, she was looking to expand her expertise in interior design, and one of the ideas she fancied was an art-based magazine. She was introduced to two investors she hoped would be solid partners. However, faced with a decision to move out to California, just three years later, the deal went sour, which left Nikki with two options, to quit and go back to the corporate world or try out her luck elsewhere. “I didn’t really want to work in the corporate setting anymore. It was a great experience, but when I moved to California, I realized it wasn’t for me.”
WORKING AS A FREELANCER
Most people who are passionate about what they do will tell you that this is a phase they all pass through. When things seem to be working out perfectly and then all of a sudden, they fall apart, and to survive, you start looking for some minor jobs. At one point, Nikki was here. Tapping into her love of vintage and design, she started repurposing old décor items and selling them, at this time, she was also working a freelance designer. It was also around this time she met Tisha Campbell, who requested her to do a makeover of her dressing room on the set of My Wife and Kids to reflect the then-popular South Bleach nightclub, B.E.D.
“All of a sudden
Damon Wayans came in, and all of these celebs came in, and they were like who the hell did this? And she’s like Nikki Chu,” recalls Nikki.
This was a breakthrough for Nikki, who would soon attract notable clientele. STAYING AFLOAT IN THE INDUSTRY You have to understand that Nikki did not have any background in “I didn’t really want to work in the corporate setting anymore. It was a great experience, but when I moved to California, I realized it wasn’t for me.” the interior design whatsoever. But she quickly climbed up the ladder to become the go-to designer for upgrading homes. However, she confesses that starting out at the beginning, she had to do a lot of pro bono work and offer discounted rates just to build up her portfolio. That, coupled with a strong work ethic, helped her become an industry disruptor.
“Showing up on time, not overspending someone’s budget, looking professional, being reliable…this type of career boils down to character on top of talent, so it’s not just being a great designer, somebody’s paying you to put up for your crap. There are too many talented people. Just like if you’re a singer and you don’t show up and do studio time, and you have a bad attitude, they’ll go get the next singer. That is the difference in the people who work a lot and get recommended a lot versus people who are talented and really don’t get the job all the time.”
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Nikki has accomplished a vast range of interior projects, licensing deals, launched an online design school called Design Mecca E.D.U. (designmeccaedu.com), as well as branded product collaborations with some of the most accredited names in the industry (Moet & Chandon, Home Depot, N.F.L., Pier One, Pepsi, Disney, and XBOX to name a few). Chu has designed a vast range of renovation, commercial and interior projects during her career. She mixes modern lines with a chic touch that aligns perfectly with her dramatic fashion-fused vision.
Nikki has been considered the lifestyle and design expert for several T.V. networks such as HGTV, OWN Network, Aspire T.V., Lifetime, Oxygen, and E! Entertainment. She, now has her own design show based on current home decor trends, going into her 3rd season on Aspire Network titled “UNBOXED with Nikki Chu.” Her growing design company, Nikki Chu Home., is firmly rooted in interiors, home accessories, art, and related products. Nikki’s selftitled home collection ‘Nikki Chu Home’ consists of interior paint, wall art, bedding, towels, rugs, pillows, throws, and poufs.
Nikki’s Advice
Many young people are getting into the design industry, but the quest for interior designers who are not only talented, smart, but also respectful is insatiable.
“What I do for a living is not mainstream; it’s very dominated by middle-aged white women and gay, white men. Most black minority people, they don’t know how to get into it because it’s not a common career that you would typically see people in.”
Albeit having a large following from minority groups in the country, she says that most people do not know where to start.
“A lot of people look at what I’m doing, and they go holy cow, but what they don’t realize is going to school learning graphics, working in advertising and understanding branding, working in television and understanding poise and professionalism, working with celebrities and having to be accountable and professional and having my business by word of mouth, all of those things lead up to where I am now and why I am at the level success that I have.” “I think you can have it all. I just think there’s a time and a place, and you have to space it out accordingly,” says Nikki.
