An unusual childhood in England imbued a love of vibrancy and fine things, providing the foundation of her design inspiration, writes Nikki Bisiker
Design and multiculturalism sowed their alluring seeds in the garden of my life very early. My mother was Jamaican, and she brought the colour in. Ours was the house in the street with jauntily colored curtains gracing the windows and she adorned herself in patterned, flowery dresses. I had school friends from different cultural backgrounds, too. I shared my mother’s love of radiant colour and form. By 13, I had my own obsession: the colours, patterns and progressive ideas of Mary Quant.
By then, I had also developed an appreciation for a certain kind of stage-set beauty, and the feeling that beautiful objects were props brought to the world to enhance our lives. My paternal grandparents lived surrounded by antiques: silverware and glassware, polished-wood chests of drawers, deep feather beds, Ottomans, dressers, tall boys and book-filled shelves. Our grandmother would let my sister and I dress up in her many evening hats and cocktail gloves of myriad colours and textures – silks and chiffons, satins and furs. We would drink Lucozade from cut crystal and imagine we were at a fancy soirée.
I was ambitious, and by my twenties I had already created and was managing a restaurant in Hampshire. After that, I was instrumental in renovating, managing and running a 48-room hotel in Wales. Here, I staged over 500 weddings, which strongly informed the way I design , work and interact with clients, This taught me how to master client relations, keep diverse people happy, structure logistics with great timing and calmness whilst creating a magical event and setting
Christmas was another obsession. Not content with a tree and tinsel, I would collect realms of holly and ivy, gather trees from the countryside and festoon them with home-baked iced shortbread, crystalized lemons, lavender and cinnamon. Log fires burned bright within as snow drifted outside. I finessed my skills at creating the perfect “arrival”: creating that special moment when guests walked in to feel instantly cossetted and comforted; living a curated dream that exceeded expectations.
After I left England, I lived in Lyon and Monaco, designing silk mills, yachts, and an ancient Arabian farmhouse along the way, before settling in Dubai. Every new project exposed me to different people, problems, inspirations, cultures and languages.
Dubai is home to a vast array of nationalities, and it’s the one place in the world where every diverse design look populates a tiny, concentrated space. East meets west here, and classic meets contemporary.
After 15 years, I’m still alive to the possibilities and creative opportunities in this corner of Arabia and other countries all around the world. And for inspiration I often back I look back to my English childhood. A stable and cozy home, that’s also inspirational, interesting and beautiful in its visual stimulation, is a real springboard for our lives.