What began as a hobby has evolved into a business and a growing philanthropic mission. As owner and operator of HGE Designs fashion-company, the spoken word artist turned designer has steadily built her reputation and brand. As one of the new faces revolutionizing people’s mindsets concerning crochet fashion, Nicole Harris has been featured in Fashion at Artscape, The S.T.A.R.E Show, La Musee da l
a mode at Towson University and countless other fashion and hair shows. HGE Designs has also been a selected vendor for the 50th anniversary of The Americans for the Arts Convention in Baltimore, The Towson Heritage Festival, and Artscape. Since teaching herself to crochet, the collection has grown from simple hats and scarves to one of a kind dresses and designs. The “Do It Yourself” series takes existing patterns and alters them to fit all shapes and sizes. She currently is a crochet designer for The Dollhouse Boutique in Baltimore. Her latest designs can be viewed online. (www.hgedesigns.com)
Philanthropy has been instrumental in spreading her brand.Nikki’s love of giving back began at the St. Ambrose Outreach Center, where she was the Program Leader for the Youth Program. She was responsible for the development of the art curriculum for students ages 5-15. The project that she is most proud of is the Puzzling Disorder charity event. Puzzling Disorder is a fashion show sponsored by HGE Designs to promote autism awareness. The success of the event has resulted in Forbush Therapeutic Pre-School at Towson being able to build a playground for its special needs students, and putting I-pads in each of its classrooms. Nicole’s passion and commitment to the fight against autism is unquestionable. Her eleven year old son, Roman, is her living inspiration. He is living with autism and was diagnosed at age two. She chronicles her journey through Autism on a blog http:www.2asdmoms.wordpress.com.
