Nicky is an international set and costume designer living in London. 

She trained at West Sussex & West Surrey Colleges of Art & Design and works mainly in opera, but also in theatre, musical theatre, t.v. and film.

Nicky has designed productions for many leading opera companies, both nationally, including; Royal Opera House; Scottish Opera; Welsh National Opera; Glyndebourne Opera and Garsington Opera and extensively in Europe, including; Royal Danish Opera; Danish National Opera; Royal Swedish Opera; Komische Oper; Frankfurt Oper; Mariinsky Theatre; and Théatre Royal de la Monnaie, as-well-as productions in Seoul, South Korea (Opera Theatre and Towol Theatre). 

She has collaborated on many critically acclaimed productions with international opera directors including: with Orpha Phelan, La Cenerentola, Irish National Opera; Dead Man Walking (winner Best Opera, Reumart Awards), Royal Danish Opera; with Annilese Miskimmon, Madama Butterfly, Glyndebourne Festival & Tour; Semele, Garsington Opera; Jenufa, Royal Swedish Opera, Danish National Opera and for Scottish Opera (nominated for Achievement in Opera, UK Theatre Awards); La Traviata (joint winner The Renee Stepham Award for Best Presentation of Touring Theatre), Scottish Opera; Don Quichotte (winner of the Audience Award and Best Production Award, Performing Arts Centre Aarhus and Newspaper Stiftidende’s), Danish National Opera; Mignon (nominated Best Opera, South Bank Sky Awards), Buxton Opera Festival and also The Magic Flute, The Diary of Anne Frank and The Coronation of Poppea (all nominated Best Opera, Irish Times); with Keith Warner; Orfeo, ROH at Sam Wanamaker Theatre; Peter Pan, WNO, ROH and Komische Oper and with Stephen Medcalf; Norma, Teatro Lirico, Sardinia. Also, for international musical director Paul Garrington, she designed the new musical Dancing Shadows (winner 5 Korean Musical Awards, including Best Musical) Opera Theatre, Seoul, and with whom Nicky founded Toye Productions.

Nicky was production & costume designer on short film Assessment (winner – Jury Award, Film London’s Best of Borough).

In addition to her career in theatre, she has worked as an interior and exhibition designer, on projects for fashion designer and businessman Jasper Conran and with architect and exhibition designer Tim Pyne.

Nicky gave a talk at the V&A as part of London Craft Week 2018, serves on the committee and is a company Director of the Society of British Theatre Designers and was a judge for the Linbury Prize for Stage Designers in 2017. She greatly enjoys mentoring young designers.

Opera

Productions directed by Annilese Miskimmon

Handel

Semele
  • Garsington Opera

Puccini

Madama Butterfly
  • Glyndebourne Festival & Tour

Janáček

Jenufa
  • Royal Swedish Opera
  • Danish National Opera
  • Scottish Opera, Glasgow & Edinburgh
  • Nominated: Achievement in Opera, UK Theatre Awards 2015

Massenet

Don Quichotte
  • Danish National Opera
  • Winner: Best Theatre Award 2014/15
  • Winner: Audience Award Best Production Performing Arts Centre Aarhus and Stiftstidende’s

Handel

Acis & Galatea
  • Mid Wales Opera, Cardiff and on Tour

Janáček

Katya Kabanova
  • Danish National Opera on Tour

Verdi

La Traviata
  • Scottish Opera 50th Anniversary Small Scale Tour
  • Joint Winner: The Renee Stepham Award for Best Presentation of Touring Theatre, UK Theatre Awards 2013

Verdi

Falstaff
  • Opera Holland Park

Mozart

The Magic Flute
  • Opera Theatre Company, Dublin & Irish Tour
  • Nominated: Best Opera, Irish Times

Thomas

Mignon
  • Buxton Festival
  • Nominated: Best Opera, The South Bank Sky Awards 2012

Mascagni

L’amico Fritz
  • Opera Holland Park

Grigory Frid

The Diary of Anne Frank
  • Opera Theatre Company, Dublin & Irish Tour
  • Nominated: Best Opera, Irish Times

Handel

Alcina
  • Revival, Belfast, Leuven & Paris

Tchaikovsky

Iolanta
  • Opera Theatre Company, Dublin & Irish Tour
  • Revival, Buxton Festival

Monteverdi

The Coronation of Poppea
  • Opera Holland Park
  • Nominated: Best Opera, Irish Times

Handel

Semele
  • Opera Theatre Company, Dublin & Irish Tour
  • Revival, Buxton Festival
  • British Youth Opera, Queen Elizabeth Hall

Productions directed by Orpha Phelan

Rossini

La Cenerentola
  • Irish National Opera at Bord Gais Energy Theatre

Jake Heggie

Dead Man Walking
  • Royal Danish Opera
  • Winner: Best Opera, Reumart Prize

Productions directed by Keith Warner

Luigi Rossi

Orpheo
  • ROH at Sam Wanamaker Theatre

Richard Ayes

Peter Pan
  • Komische Oper, Berlin
  • Welsh National Opera, UK Premiere (costumes)

Mozart

Le Nozze di Figaro
  • Polish National Opera (costumes)

David Blake

Scoring a Century
  • Birmingham Conservatoire (costumes)

Dallapiccola

Il Prigioniero & Volo di notti
  • Frankfurt Opera (costumes)

Rossini

La Cenerentola
  • Frankfurt Opera (costumes)
  • Opera Zuid, Netherlands

Verdi

Macbeth
  • Theatre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels (costumes)

Productions directed by Stephen Medcalf

Bellini

Norma
  • Teatro Lirico, Sardinia

Gluck

La Rencontre Imprévue
  • Guildhall School of Music & Drama

Smetana

The Bartered Bride
  • Mid Wales Opera, Tour

Janáček

The Cunning Little Vixen
  • British Youth Opera , Queen Elizabeth Hall

Mozart

Don Giovanni
  • Mid Wales Opera, Tour

Handel

Susanna
  • Guildhall School of Music & Drama

Productions directed by Jonathan Miller

Bisset

Carmen
  • Mid Wales Opera, Tour

Productions directed and designed by Isabella Bywater

Gounod

Faust
  • Mariinsky Theatre (co-costume designer)

Productions directed by Dale Duesing

Britten

The Rape of Lucretia
  • Frankfurt Opera (costumes)

Cherubini

Medea
  • National Reisopera, Netherlands (costumes)

Rossini

Il viaggio a Reims
  • Frankfurt Opera (costumes)
  • Nominated: Best Opera, Opernwelt

Productions directed by Lindy Hume

Harvey/Britten/Holst

Songs of Lipo/Phaedra/Savitri
  • Aldeburgh Festival

Mozart

Cosi fan tutti
  • Guildhall School of Music & Drama

Staged by Andrew Sinclair

A Gala of Opera & Ballet

The World’s Stage
  • Royal Opera House (sets)

Plays & Musicals

Productions directed by Rachael Grunwald

June Havoc

Marathon 33
  • Guildhall School of Music & Drama

Productions directed and Choreographed by Amon Miyamoto

Jones/Schmidt

The Fantasticks
  • Duchess Theatre

Productions directed by Andrew Wale

Ragnar Hovland

Some People I Know
  • Teatergarasjen Bergen, Norway

Productions directed by Paul Garrington

Brian McAvera

Picasso’s Women – 4 monologues
  • Towel Theatre, Seoul

Wolfson/Dorfman

Dancing Shadows
  • Opera Theatre, Seoul
  • Winner: 5 Korean Musical Awards including Best Musical

Brian McAvera

Picasso’s Women – Olga
  • UK Tour, Hong Kong + Cork Festivals
  • Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh Festival

Glyn Maxwell

The Lifeblood
  • Hen & Chickens Theatre

Glyn Maxwell

Anyroad
  • Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh Festival

Glyn Maxwell

Broken Journey
  • Hen & Chickens Theatre

Jean Cocteau

Take The Fire
  • Lyric Studio, Hammersmith

Eric Schmitt

La Nuit de Valognes
  • The Other Place, RSC

Productions directed by Andy Jordan

Carl Djerassi

3 On A Couch
  • King’s Head Theatre

Brian McAvera

Picasso’s Women – Jacqueline
  • UK Tour, Hong Kong + Cork Festivals
  • Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh Festival

Productions directed by Sean Holmes

Leo Tolstoy

The Power of Darkness
  • The Orange Tree Theatre

Cyril Tourneur

The Revenger’s Tragedy
  • The Orange Tree Room

Buchner

Woyzeck
  • The Other Place, RSC

Film & TV

Written and Directed by Mark Gutteridge

Assessment
  • A short film
  • Winner: Jury Award Film, London's Best of Borough

Commissioned for TV

The Score
  • A music magazine programme for BBC2

Orlando Gough

The Empress
  • An opera for Channel 4 (Associate Designer to artist Bruce Mclean)