My name is Nicole Block, affectionately known as Nic, and I am the creative behind The Nic Studio. I knew I was an artist from an early age – literally. In the first grade, on a worksheet, I filled in: “My name is Nicole. I am 5 years old. When I grow up, I want to be a(an) artist.” She keeps this worksheet with her to this day.

I devoted myself to the arts, and graduated in 2000 with a degree in illustration from Syracuse University. After a sadly failed attempt at being a freelance illustrator (hey, it’s tough out there), I became a self-taught designer and landed myself a job as a designer for a small publication. I honed my page layout, color, and press skills on that magazine, and had the ability to keep my hand in art. I could always hire myself as an illustrator for an article, right?

Married in 2006, I designed my own invitations, accessories, everything. And as the predictable story goes, I was bitten by the stationery bug. Gratefully so – the magazine was suddenly dissolved in September of that year, and I was laid off along with 1/3 of the company. Not to be deterred, I bought my first stationery domain the next day and was off and running, freelance clients in hand. After a while, I began to do more illustrative stationery pieces. This was the beginning of a whole new Nic Studio. And I was happier than ever – all I ever wanted to do was draw and paint anyway.

Since then, it has been a whirlwind of activity. I developed my first small invitation line in 2010. In 2011, I debuted at the National Stationery Show, launching a line of note cards and an extended wedding album. Everything was signature Nic style: a sense of humor, an appreciation for the little moments in life, and an obvious love of the hand-drawn. It was a success, and now The Nic Studio is in more than 25 stores across the country, and growing all the time. I have recently added 15 new cards to the line, the Fadeaway Collection, inspired by The Fadeaway Girls by one of my favorite illustrators, Coles Phillips. It’s very exciting for me to be able to paint my pieces again, rather than the linear style I’ve come to be known for. I’ve also begun to expand my wedding collection to include both more luxurious invitation pieces as well as some full-color painted, digitally printed sets. I was tapped by Random House in 2011 to illustrate and design the interior of “The Bride-to-be-Book” by Amy Krouse-Rosenthal, and was also filmed for a Howcast series on custom invitations that same summer.

I am a very proud native New Yorker. I live and work in Brooklyn with my husband Dave, our wonderfully willful daughter, Anna Jae, and our soon-to-be born new son.