Based in South Wales, Vicki Ashurst has extensive experience working in branding and likes to be strategic and purposeful in her work. But working in a studio, impressing creative directors, and meeting client briefs doesn’t completely eliminate the creative urge. So, she decided to create her own brand – Vickilicious.
“Vickilicious is a brand inspired by tattoo culture, built around bold illustrations, storytelling, and apparel. I create artistic prints, hand-embellished cards, graphic tees, and high-quality hard enamel pins. Each piece is designed to feel like something with attitude and soul, rather than just a product. It’s for those who love ink, symbolism, and a little beautiful rebellion,” explains Vicki.
She is very clear about this proposition and you can tell that, just like in her client work, she is again strategic and purposeful. However, the Vickilicious brand has painful and highly personal origins.
“Being a graphic designer, especially being one of the only women in the studio, slowly eroded my confidence and happiness,” Vicki said. “I found myself torn between a design that answered the client’s brief and a design that satisfied the opinions in the room. The constant criticism and inequality began to drain the joy of creation. I lost that fearless, messy little girl who made art simply because she loved it.”
Russian dolls, sugar skulls and voodoo charms are all part of the Vickilicious image
The fearless little girl covered herself with paint, ink, and glitter, drawing, cutting, and pasting in the night, so much so that her mother declared her bedroom off-limits. But in 2010, when Vicki’s mother died of cancer, the inner chaos resurfaced and she discovered a box of treasures – cards her mother had kept and other pieces Vicki had made. Vicki designs a tattoo in her memory… which leads to another epiphany.
“I started creating again, not for recognition, not for brevity, but for meaning. It started by making small prints and hand-decorated cards for friends. One of my friends said, ‘You should sell these’. So that’s what I did,” Vicki continues.
Soon she was making enamel pin badges for people to collect—small, wearable pieces of art with a soul. T-shirts followed, and Vickilicous got its first sub-brand: Worn to Death. Here, her look leans more towards streetwear and skateboarding. T-shirts are a bold statement and something you can wear.
Tattoo culture is at the heart of everything Vicki creates, symbolizing life, love, rebellion, sadness and strength. They are used to tell stories and have meaning in many cultures.
“Stylistically, I was inspired by the bold composition and confidence of traditional Sailor Jerry tattoos, the fluid movement and rich folklore stories of Japanese tattoo art, and the floral symbolism of the sugar skulls of Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebrations,” says Vicki. “I’m not trying to reinvent a specific traditional style. I’m bringing a variety of influences together, respecting their visual language, and building my own universe out of it. This is tattoo culture reimagined through illustration. Story-driven, symbolic, and collectible.”
Due to popular demand, Vicki’s products will soon include skateboard decks under the Ride to Ruin sub-brand. Moreover, she brought her own aesthetic into the NFT world through “The Cute & Creepy Gang”, earning a global reputation. Working with Web3 expert Fraser MacLennan, she identified a gap in the market with a unique blend of tattoo culture, symbolism and a cute yet sinister aesthetic.
The event started with 10,000 adorable Death Sugar Skulls being given away for free. Then there’s the current Moon Witches collection, which consists of 6,666 Russian dolls inspired by the coven. “Every full moon, I create an additional Mystic Moon illustration NFT that becomes a reward for anyone who mints during that lunar cycle. This ritual element keeps the creativity flowing and connects the art to something symbolic and cyclical that I love,” Vicki said.
Morvella – from the cute and scary gang
The adorable and creepy takeover of Times Square
Digital images can be purchased using the Ethereum cryptocurrency, and during Halloween, Vicki and Fraser launched the Coven Clash trading card series, which sold out within 24 hours. It spawned Coven Radio, which interviews other artists and builders in the Web3 community.
“I’ve never been more motivated or excited to create,” Vicki said. “It was so inspiring to meet so many like-minded artists and collectors from around the world. It even took me to New York for NFT NYC, where my work was showcased and featured on billboards in Times Square. I honestly couldn’t have imagined this in my wildest dreams.”
As you might have guessed, there’s a lot of power behind the Vickilicious universe. For Vicki, it was more than just a side hustle, but not enough for her to take brand design into the long grass. Throughout her career, she continued to love the track. But don’t be surprised one day when you see Worn to Death or her upcoming Witchy Moon Relic badges (spell books, potion bottles, tarot cards, crescent moons, snakes and more) popping up in high street boutiques.
Best-selling product: Design that fights like a girl sold out immediately
