Craig Nichols Works

Craig Nichols, an award-winning sculptor and designer, enjoys working with all the Hawaiian hardwoods. In carving his one-of-a-kind pieces, he endeavors to create and enhance what nature has already suggested. His affiliations with the ocean and woodworking are both lifelong, giving Craig a unique perspective and understanding of the harmony and subtleties that exist in nature between the species. His light-hearted approach often adds touches of whimsy. He currently resides on the Big Island of Hawaii where he and his wife Kay make their rustic upcountry home.

Craig Nichols has been inspired by the ocean all his life. Raised in Seattle and Florida, he owned his first boat at age 12. Craig surfed in a world championship in Peru and attempted to sail the globe in his teens. He fished commercially in the Florida Keys for a number of years. A need for creative and artistic expression has run parallel with this love of the sea. Excellence in technical drawing and design suggested a career in architecture. But instead, while raising his young family in the 70s, he developed a successful leather products company and a custom cabinet shop, both pragmatic outlets for his creative abilities.

An opportunity arose in the late 80s for Craig to captain a commercial tuna boat from Hawaii to Central America as part of a third-world fisheries project. As a committed Christian, this fulfilled his long-standing desire to work in third world countries while nurturing Craig’s affiliations with the sea.

After several years, he and his wife Kay returned to Hawaii, settling on the western slopes of the Big Island. From here, Craig captained a charter dive boat and developed his unique and beautiful sea sculptures. He uses numerous varieties of the exquisite hardwoods found in Hawaii. Encouraged and aided in these endeavors by his artistic wife, along with the successful marketing of his pieces through several galleries throughout the islands, Craig now pursues sculpting full-time.