DOODAD + FANDANGO Australian born founder and maker Nikita Majajas lives each day bursting with creativity , channeling her drive into a myriad of art forms. Mainly focused on the use of acrylics, Nikita molds the viscous material into bold expressions in the form of adornments and housewares. She doesn’t stop there as you will find her showcasing her art through stylistic photos on joyous characters ,bringing viewers on a fantastical journey to another place and time where the possibilities of how you can express your truest unique self can finally be realized. Nikita has a vision of a dream like world where people are bold, expressive and unapologetically themselves. Nikitas work and brand bring us all to a place where there are less rules, and all that are adorned in her creations seem to carry a super power. Let’s get to know more about this imaginative heiress and what fuels her creative fire.

Article and Interview orchestrated by Megan Gazzo, founder and designer of @gazzybygazzo. She believes in uplifting other artists and bridging together to form a more creatively expressive and fun world.

E&E: So lovely to meet you D&F . Would you mind giving us a little bio?

D&F: Yes of course ! My name is Nikita Majajas i live in Sydney, Australia, and just moved out of the city to the Blue Mountains, a beautiful bushy location full of lots of glorious nature! I'm a creator, I design and make things. I studied Jewellery and Object Design at art college, trained to be a silversmith and thought I might end up designing tableware. However along the way I purchased a laser machine and now work primarily in acrylics making costume jewellery and homewares.

E&E: Amazing! I really love your work. So, what inspires you to make art and do what you do everyday?

D&D:I just want to make things! I’m always creating in my head and then my fingers! I can’t imagine just being a designer, because I get so much satisfaction from using my hands to create objects. I'm inspired by anything visual: fashion, architecture, furniture, lighting design, funny plants and insects. If I was to come back and start all over again I’d like to be an industrial designer.

E&E: Amazing! You can surely see all of your interest in those areas from your photos. Do you find there is anyone who inspires the most or you look up to as a mentor?

D&D:I feel like it’s my friends that inspire me the most. I'm lucky to have amazing, creative friends who I admire and they are always there to offer advice and support. I love that we help each other to get up everyday and keep going, that we understand each other’s struggles and it’s real. Famous people’s stories seem like fairytales to me and I just can’t relate.

E&E: Incredible. i feel the exact same about my friends. They are truly my family and inspire me everyday. So, we all know that being a creative can lead to burnout, Can you tell me , what sort of self-care rituals keep you on track?

D&D:I like to cram all of my work into a few days a week and then have time off to: go op (thrift) shopping have naps, Potter around the house playing with my plants and shoozhing up the interiors, put on cute outfits and catch up with friends, eat lots of rich and flavourful calorific food, play around in the studio working on prototypes, watch a lot of reality TV, sit on on my deck staring into the bush, do cute things with my wife, like bushwalks or swims.

E&E: Long live the misfits! Yes I agree. Everyone deserves to feel bold and themselves. That would be an idea world where everyone feels like they can boldly express themselves . Do you ever dream up a utopian world and what does that look like to you.

D&D: Oh what a lovely question! I think its a world where we're all able to live our purpose and fulfil our potential, despite whatever circumstance (location, socio economic situation, gender, body, neuro reality etc) you were born into. A world where we all respect ourselves and each other and allow each other to thrive in safety. A world where dogs never die. Just a fair place, where there’s no such thing as privilege, we’re all equal.

E&E: If you could go back and give your younger self advice , what would it be?

D&D: There’s no way a younger me would listen to anyone, not even me.

E&E: Haha. That is hilarious and fair . How about a few of your favorite things? What sort of tastes, smells, things in your life that intoxicate you?

D&D:I love colours a lot, like its important to me, particularly pink (all pinks), orange, lime green, banana yellow, lilac, duck egg blue, red . I love strong flavours in food, I had the yummiest lunch today, a Malaysian chicken curry with soft and buttery white rice and a roti, strong and sweet milky tea, I was in heaven my fantasy day would be dressing up in a cute ass outfit and looking amazing, going to an art museum in Florence, then stumbling across several vintage designer shops that are having sales, then having an incredible meal with beautiful wine and cocktails in an outdoor restaurant in incredible weather with my best friends and then attending a concert like say Rosin Murphy and having my mind blown and then going to the funnest club ever and dancing all night with my feet never getting sore and never getting tired. Indulgence followed by decadence and then a whole lot of extravagance.

E&E: Can you share a coincidence or funny thing that happened to you that really affirmed you are on the right path?

D&D:I don't know if I can think of something funny or coincidental…. But I remember the first time something awesome happened for my business I literally screamed in joy, because I had worked so so hard and struggled so so much to achieve my dream to work for myself as a creative and I never ever thought it would actually happen. It felt sooo good to be validated like that. Then about a year after that I was able to quit my day job and work for myself full time. I felt the hugest surge of gratitude to the universe and I remember that feeling every time when I get down about something in my practice, how truly lucky I am to be doing something I love.

E&E: Amazing ! Well I am absolutely in love with your work and definitely need some of your adornments soon to rock. Can you let the people know where we can find your work and how to support what you got going on?

D&D: Yes ! Totally . You can check out my instagram. AND pop over to my site, doodadandfandango.com