For Nicole McLaughlin, the Pun Is Always Intended
The designer and upcycler extraordinaire has paved a new path — fuled by self-expression, sustainablity and fun — and she wants to help others walk it too.
What’s the recipe behind Nicole McLaughlin’s creative process? Self-expression, sustainability, and good old-fashioned fun, to name a few ingredients. “I think my work and my personality are very similar,” she says. “The thoughts in my brain … I’m able to take them out and turn them into something. If someone wanted to get to know me and they saw my work — that’s my personality.”
McLaughlin’s output is, in a word, expansive. One day, she may be making a GORE-TEX cactus (yes, a cactus) out of upycycled scraps from warranty return Arc’Teryx jackets, another a wallet chain from a door security chain pulled directly out of a wall. That’s not to mention when she’s working on her collaborative projects: brands who’ve requested and received her unique design perspective include HOKA, Merrell and Crocs, among others.
And no matter how much her profile rises, McLaughlin is still having just as much fun as she always has. “I enjoy making people laugh. I enjoy laughing,” she says. “It’s a lot of experimenting with things, being funny or quirky … [What you make] doesn’t have to be a joke, but being light-hearted is always important.”
In her installment of Hypebeast Diaries, Nicole McLaughlin provided a behind-the-scenes look at her workspaces in Colorado and New York City, discussed her creative process (and how she overcomes creative block), talked about the future of her practice, which includes teaching, and much more. See the full video above, and follow Nicole on Instagram to stay up-to-date on her goings-on.
