Self Portrait: Nikki Tibbles

The florist and founder of Wild at Heart paints a picture of her life, work and inspirations

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1. Flowers

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I'm dyslexic. I can't draw or write but flowers have become my way of painting. Every single flower is different to the next. There is nothing uniform about nature; it is endlessly unexpected and surprising.

2. Bicester Village

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My goal is to always create something magical. One of my favourite recent projects is Bicester Village in Oxfordshire. My team and I are creating herb gardens, orchards, a birch forest and wisteria walkways. It is an assault on your senses of the best kind.

3. Colm Tóibín

Nikki Tibbles | Self Portrait

I adore every book by Colm Tóibín. The Ireland he writes about has the gentleness of another era.

4. Wild At Heart Foundation

Two years ago, I set up the Wild at Heart Foundation. Its aim is to reduce the world's 600 million stray dog population by organising and sponsoring rescue projects and neutering programmes.

5. Letters

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If my house were to burn to the ground, I would save the letters my father wrote to my mother. They are so beautifully written and his handwriting was extraordinary. They were together from when they were 16 until my father died at 76.

6. Farmacy Restaurant

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Farmacy restaurant on Westbourne Grove, W2 is fantastic. Nothing has suffered to get to your plate, and it looks exceptionally glamorous

7. South Downs

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I'm happiest in the countryside, where I can breathe. I love the rolling South Downs and the deserted Norfolk coast.

8. John Currin

Nikki Tibbles | Self Portrait

John Currin's painting Rosebush is imprinted on my memory. The colour and fineness of his work is astonishing.

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