In 2012, seeking a hands-on outlet for creativity separate from the screen time demanded by her day job as a photo editor for The Washington Post, Nicole Crowder tried her hand at upholstery. Guided by YouTube tutorials and artistic instinct, she began converting antique and Craigslist finds into bold, pattern-mixed furniture pieces that have since become her signature. She sold her work at farmers’ markets and soon built up a clientele for custom projects.
Fast-forward eight years. Crowder moved from D.C. to Minneapolis and quickly set up shop with a studio in the Casket Arts Building in Northeast. She joined Mpls.St.Paul Home & Design magazine as editor-at-large. Early this year, she launched her first mass-market collection, a collaboration with national retail brand World Market. We caught up with her fresh off a whirlwind weekend opening her studio for Art-A-Whirl, during which she lost her voice and gave away every business card she had.
It takes a lot of passion and determination to start a business while working a 9 to 5. What motivated you to stick with it through the early grind?
I was really itching to do something away from my desk, something more tactile. Upholstery felt like that beautiful medium of everything I enjoy: interior design, pattern, color, and texture. Having a craft outside my profession was a great challenge mentally and physically. It was different from my norm—an opportunity to try something new, take a chance on myself, and be back in the discovery phase for a while. Upholstery was that breath of fresh air that really reinvigorated me creatively.
Did being self-taught give you any advantages over formal training?
It has! I don’t have the pressure of feeling like I need to do things a particular way that is more formulaic or learned. With furniture, I’ve learned you have to really feel your way through and find the techniques that work for you. It helps to make mistakes and realize there’s no pressure here, no standard I have to reach. I’m not in competition with anyone, not even myself.
What goals did you have in designing your World Market collection?
I love the idea of creating modern heirlooms, statement items that can be passed down from person to person or move from home to home throughout someone’s life. I want to create furniture that feels like something you just have to have in your home. You see it and it’s the perfect piece you didn’t realize you needed.
You’ve accomplished so much with your collection, your studio, an impressive client list, and having your work featured on TV and in national magazines. Do you have any more dreams left to fulfill?
I have so many! I’m working on a book proposal right now. It’s a coffee-table book featuring photos of furniture interspersed with upholstery history, like old textile mills once owned by Black Americans. Coffee-table books are what really inspired me to be an artist, to get into photo editing and then upholstery. So that would be a beautiful 360 moment to come back to that.
You moved around a lot as a military kid and most recently spent 10 years in D.C. What led you to make Minneapolis your new home?
I actually had all my furniture packed up, sitting in a warehouse, with a one-way ticket to L.A. But when I visited my family here over the holidays, I felt a kind of spiritual awakening telling me, This is where you need to be; there are experiences and relationships waiting for you here. I decided it was time to proactively cultivate the community I grew up with instead of moving farther away and starting over. I’m so glad that I did.
Tell us about your Evereve experience.
Oh, it was amazing. I loved that the clothing really accentuated my hips and my curves.
I loved the colors—fuchsias and yellows, blues and greens. The fuchsia dress I wore was so different for me; I had never worn anything that bright. But I want fuchsia pants now! I want fuchsia everything!
On Crowder: A – New York Koda dress ($128), Linnie gold bracelets ($34), Oakly filled hoop earrings ($34), from EVEREVE, evereve.com
This article originally appeared in the August 2022 issue of Mpls.St.Paul Magazine as part of our series, The Foreword, presented by Evereve.