From an early age Nicole was interested in drawing and painting, finished college with a major in art and went on to study architecture. Special interest in clay modelling, watercolours, etching and life drawing. Fresh out of uni, Nicole moved to bustling Berlin as an intern and then took a senior position in Frankfurt am Main to work in interior design, creating multi million euro office designs, before meeting husband Craig. Nicole’s love for sea glass was born, when they went on a day trip to well known Portobello, just outside of Scotland’s capital Edinburgh. Before going back home to work in Frankfurt, after a weekend away, Nicole wanted to take a memory of the day with Craig with her, and collected a handful of shells, a piece of driftwood and something she had never seen before - sea glass! 

The relationship grew quickly and Craig left Scotland for Germany. A winter wedding took place, but the couple had only started their love for travelling and so the newly weds decided to move back to the ancient city of Edinburgh. Craig finished his phd in Anthropology and went on to to work as a lecturer at the prestigious University of St Andrews. Leaving the busy city behind, they bought a house in coastal Fife, only 20 minutes away from the beach.

Nicole remembered her fascination for sea glass from the early steps of their relationship and began collecting tiny pieces of sea glass at the tiny beach below the 12th century castle ruin in St Andrews, when Craig lectured! Her favourite finds are beach found marbles, followed by beads and glass stoppers. 

The idea for a jewellery business was born at the kitchen table, back in 2015. The name Tilia by the Sea comes from Latin - Tilia = Linden tree , as Nicole’s married surname is Lind! So, Tilia by the Sea literally translates to ‘ A Lind by the Sea’ and that more often than not, of course includes Craig (who always finds the best pieces and gifts them to Nicole!). 

 

In 2020 Craig and Nicole started a YouTube channel ‘Scottish Mudlarking’ to share their love for the 117 Mile long Fife Coastal Path and its sandy beaches, fascinating landscapes filled with fossils and rare pieces of sea glass. Both are very passionate about keeping the coast clean and collect plastic and materials that are harmful to wildlife every time they are at the beach. Nicole has transformed some of the ocean plastic into art to show that even beach found plastic can be beautiful, once it’s off the beach and to create awareness of plastic in the Sea and things like the Great Pacific Garbage patch. 

 

The channel has grown to over 14.000 subscribers from all around the world. Together they explore the rugged Scottish landscape, muddy beaches and search for long lost history in Victorian bottle dumps. Craig often delves into Scotland’s heritage and ancient history, from Picts to the Spanish Armada to tell viewers where Pirate Glass comes from and to share the origins of Scottish Emeralds - a bright green rough type of glass, only found on one beach, that looks like raw emeralds, but actually began life in the local bottle factory that made Whisky bottles.

Both, Craig and Nicole, have an endless curiosity about Scotland and the wider world. Together they have gone on extensive travels to Australia, New Zealand and the small Pacific island group of Vanuatu, where they collected a couple of pieces of treasured sea glass, including very rare Coca Cola pieces that back to WWII and were left by US soldiers on the shores of Efate island.

After 15 years in the heather covered foggy hills of Scotland, and countless hours on the windy, seaweed covered coastal shores, Nicole and Craig have moved back to Nicole’s childhood home. Their experience overseas has inspired and informed their vision, to bring a little of that inspiration into everything they do. 

And not it’s time to come back indoors after a long day at the beach and eat some home cooked food that Craig cooks for the two of them and enjoy a cup of herbal tea to warm up again!