Local artist Nick Nelson finds his medium—and his calling
By Lynn Colburn
Photos/Zoe Wood Photography
For 28-year-old Nick Nelson, creativity has always been close at hand—literally. Raised in Jacksonville, he first discovered his passion for art in a high school ceramics class, where a supportive teacher helped him see both his talent and his potential.
What began as a calming, hands-on outlet soon evolved into something bigger: a journey through uncertainty, self-discovery and, ultimately, a thriving creative business.
Today, through his studio, “OrgaNick Studio,” Nelson transforms his love for texture, design and intentionality into deeply personal paper creations that reconnect people with the tangible in an increasingly digital world.
In high school, thanks to his “favorite teacher ever,” Dale Homolka, Nelson discovered his love for art—textiles, weaving, painting and more. Some projects didn’t come easily, and he admits he might have talked a lot—something he attributes in part to the way his busy, creative brain works. But when ceramics began, everything changed.
“It was calming,” he says. “Working with my hands … I just loved doing it. It was almost like therapy. And then Dale, bless him, the best teacher, he saw that in me.”
Homolka recognized that ceramics was not only something Nelson loved, but also something that was good for him, encouraging him to push further creatively.
“And that was when I thought, I’m going to do this,” says Nelson. “I’m going to go to college for this.”
He began at Illinois College before transferring to Illinois State University in Bloomington, seeking a larger experience and planning to study ceramics. But reality soon set in.
Nelson shares, “After my first year, I wondered, ‘Is this a lucrative business? What am I going to do with this to live off this?’”
“I realized I wasn’t going to be able to support myself doing ceramics,” he says. “So, I started asking counselors and teachers, ‘How do I stay in the arts, use my creativity and still make a living?’”
The answer surprised him.
“They said, ‘Nick, you need to go into graphic design, or at least explore it,’” he reveals.
Nelson says he was thinking that graphic design was very different from the studio art he had envisioned and loved. He says, quite honestly, the direction wasn’t one he was comfortable with and was a little intimidating to think about. He didn’t know what he was going to do.
But he jumped in and went to his first graphic design class. It was definitely intimidating. Nelson didn’t like computers and had little experience with them.
“Like, even how to delete something,” he says. “I didn’t know how to open the software. I didn’t know what was going on.”
He adds, “So, when I walked into class, it was like a movie scene … everyone’s faces lit blue from the screens. I thought, I don’t know what I’m doing.”
But his first assignment—a poster inspired by someone he loved—changed everything. He chose his grandfather, Jerry Nelson, who owned Nelson’s Robo Car Wash.
Despite not understanding design principles, Nick Nelson relied on his artistic eye and instinct.
“My teacher was amazed,” he recalls. “Pointing out things I did that I didn’t even mean to do. … It was just my eye saying that should probably go there.”
She praised his “hierarchy” and visual flow—terms he didn’t yet understand—but her encouragement built his confidence.
“Like my hype woman,” he says. “I thought, maybe I can do this.”
Nelson acknowledges, “I’ve been blessed with teachers who pay attention and see something in their students and actually care. With continued support from dedicated teachers, Nelson stuck with graphic design and earned his degree.
Anyone who talks to him can see the spark and excitement in Nelson’s eyes when he discusses his art—or hear the drive in his voice describing how he addressed his life, enlisted advice, sought out solutions and found his unique direction through that same drive.
Now, that same creative instinct drives his work with OrgaNick Studio. What he loves most is the physical result of design.
“Like ceramics, you work for it and see the final product,” Nelson explains. “To me, the printing process was that final product. You may make things digitally, but when you print it, and it’s in your hand, you think, ‘This is the art that I made.’ To me, that is the best part. Seeing something online is easy to get rid of; it just doesn’t feel as real.”
That realization led to a deeper passion.
“I found my love for paper,” Nelson says, smiling. “The tactility of it … the textures, the thickness—it all evokes emotion. People don’t realize how much feeling paper carries. I just love all of that! With phones and computers, people don’t do as much with paper anymore, but there is so much emotion in it that you don’t even necessarily realize it until you touch it. Even with a business card, you might have a thin, floppy business card that makes you feel a certain way, versus a super-thick card stock that evokes an entirely different emotion. I love that!”
Nelson has learned from his experiences that all senses are important in life, something he feels is often lost in digital communication.
“For a letter or card, there’s real thought behind it,” he says. “I try to mirror that in what I create.”
He says he didn’t have a logo when he began in 2021, but even then, paper played a part. A t-shirt he printed with “OrgaNick Design Company” on it served, more or less, as his branding back then.
“But in about 2024, after discovering my love of paper, intentionality, writing with a pen and analog, I thought my logo should be more me,” says Nelson.
So, he wrote his company name in his own handwriting and changed the name to OrgaNick Studio, which, he says, “I felt gave it a more cozy, intentional artist desk feel, which is more me than graphic design.”
He loves to think about the intention behind paper, for the stationery, greeting cards, invitations and all of his creations. It’s a process of thought, feeling, visual and art.
“For a person writing a letter or sending a card, there is true intention and thought behind it,” Nelson notes, “[It is] more than a text.” To mirror that extra thought, Nelson produces his paper art with the same intention, conveying that thoughtfulness through paper.
Along the way, he shares, “Some of my friends have trusted me with their wedding invitations and wedding suites. I’m so grateful for that.”
Nelson designed these personally-researched wedding pieces that feature his own drawing of the Tybee Island, Georgia lighthouse.
For example, Nelson created a wedding invitation for photographer Zoe Wood, who got married on Tybee Island, Georgia. “I drew the Tybee Island Lighthouse and little birds on her invitation, making it more personal to her.”
He says his creative process starts with a first phone call, talking to the person or people involved and finding out about them, their vision, the event or wedding, and the vibe. Nelson explains, “Like for a wedding, I ask weird personal questions like ‘Where was your first date?’ or ‘What are the quirks that you both have?’ Just fun, different questions.”
From there, he creates a vision/concept board with drawings, typography and elements he envisions from that first conversation with the client. After that, he schedules another phone call to get further input so that he can design the invitation and refine it until it is the perfect creation for the couple. Then, he talks about the wonderful world of paper options. When approved, it is physically created and delivered to the client to make the perfect impression when mailed for each unique creation.
The process has generated creative elements in his designs that otherwise would not have been so personalized. Nelson’s first wedding suite was for a friend whom he says, “full-on trusted me to do all her wedding stuff. … I’m so grateful to her because if it wasn’t for her, I might not have gotten the opportunity to do something I full-on love.”
With one couple, during the first phone call’s ‘weird questions’, the fiancé said, “I’m obsessed with gingerbread men.” In the same conversation, Nelson learned the couple loved doing escape rooms together. So, small ‘Easter eggs’ of a key and a gingerbread man were artfully added to the invitation, which would make the couple smile and remember the meaning as a part of that special invitation for their special day. He also added a sketch of the gates at the wedding venue to the invitation.
His business continues to grow, reaching people in many different states. “Through my page,” Nelson shares, “I met people like a calligrapher in Hawaii and a graphic designer in California. They have become good friends since we talk all the time about business, although we’ve never met in person, and they have supported me in incredible ways, sharing my products.”
You can reach Nick Nelson and OrgaNick Studio via organickstudio.com, “OrgaNick Studio” on Facebook or @organick.studio on Instagram.
And while his work now reaches far beyond Jacksonville, Nelson hasn’t strayed far from his roots. He is currently working locally with Chapter II Events for a project. You might also still spot him at Leo’s Pizza, where he started at 14.
And—speaking of his love for paper, Nelson is now the weekly delivery person for The Source Newspaper! He says, “It goes with my business perfectly. I felt obligated when asked if I would deliver the papers for The Source.”
Nelson says, “I love it. Of course, I’m ‘The Paper Guy.’” So, if you see Nick Nelson, say hello!
