Meet Nick Stroia | Artist, Designer, & Coffee Junkie

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nick Stroia and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nick, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I guess you could say that I’ve always been gifted with having a knack for art, ever since I was old enough to grip a pencil. And while I took some web & graphic design classes in college, I never wanted to be stuck in some cubicle pushing pixels all the livelong day, doing the same thing thousands of others were doing. I wanted to blaze my own creative trail–with a grittier, & more raw artistic approach to design. And of course, at risk of sounding like the exhausted broken record of every other entrepreneurial spirit out there, I wanted the freedom that comes with being your own boss and riding your own horse.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
So my bread & butter is essentially by-hand graphic design. Hand-drawn icons. Hand-lettered logos. All that fun stuff. Pretty much how it was done in the days of yore, with my design style being heavily influenced by americana. Think neon signs, old matchbooks, a pair of dusty cowboy boots, that old Mustang sitting in your grandpa’s garage–that’s the vibe I aim for, as I’ve enjoyed it the most of my life.
And in an ever-growing world of cheap design applications & artificial intelligence, I think one of the best things you can do as an artist or designer is to know your artistic roots & to stick to them. I like to think that having a flesh & blood perspective and adding that human touch to your work in the form of by-hand lettering & design will definitely give you a creative edge in this field over at least 80% of your competition. All the better if you do it via pencil/pen & paper instead of say…an iPad, but thats probably just my hot take.
And while I love what I do, one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned along the way is that burnout is a very real thing. Hustle hard, sure, but not too hard. Few things are worse in a line of work focused all around creativity than the feeling of being burnt out. Because when that happens, anything you put out will be nothing but garbage. Making & taking time for yourself is key.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Definitely the more low-key hidden gems that the majority of the general public doesn’t know exists, whether that’s a watering hole or coffee shop that’s tucked away off some side street or a spot in nature that only the locals know about & hasn’t been ruined by Instagram or that other app with the two T’s and two K’s.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Definitely the brave & the bold who creatively pioneered the way forward in the good ol’ days of social media & web2, showing all of us other average Joes & Janes that making a successful career out of art in our tech-saturated modern day & age is actually doable.

Also the guy who invented shelled pistachios. You all made it possible.

Website: https://www.buffalonickel.co

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buffalonickelco