Optimism: Reimagined by Nick Herd

cover-stories

Optimism: Reimagined by Nick Herd

15/05/26

Author: RIISE Team

DOCUMENTED BY: RIISE

We placed our Optimist T-Shirt into the hands of three Australia-based artists and invited them to respond to a single prompt: what does optimism mean to you?

1/1

Optimist T-Shirt

RIISE

PRODUCT DETAILS

We placed our Optimist T-Shirt into the hands of three Australia-based artists and invited them to respond to a single prompt: what does optimism mean to you?

Crafted from hemp and organic cotton, the piece shifts from garment to canvas — absorbing colour, texture and gesture along the way. What emerges is not a singular vision, but an exploration of optimism not as perfection or certainty, but as expression, individuality and the courage to imagine differently. Photographed inside each artist’s studio, the series reveals optimism as something fluid, instinctive and deeply human — each artist approaching the piece through their own visual language.

For the second instalment of the series, we enter the studio of Nick Herd, the Sydney-based artist originally from New Zealand whose paintings are deeply informed by nature, memory and feeling. Working intuitively with thick layers of oil paint, Nick builds expressive compositions that blur the line between abstraction and landscape — capturing the atmosphere of shifting light, wildflowers, changing weather and the emotional imprint of the natural world. His works feel immediate and alive, balancing softness with raw gesture and movement.

His interpretation of the optimism reflects this same sensibility. Painted with loose florals and instinctive brushwork, the piece evokes growth, vitality and imperfection — optimism expressed not as something fixed, but something active and constantly unfolding.

“

Optimism for me is simply beginning. Coming back to painting even when I feel out of rhythm or unsure. Once I begin, I stop thinking so much and the work, I find, starts to move itself forward.

NICK HERD

”

The Optimist T-Shirt is a wearable expression of RIISE’s mission to bring hope, beauty and optimism into climate conversations. We are donating 25% of proceeds to DIRT, the environmental foundation established by Arizona Muse, supporting regenerative and biodynamic farming initiatives around the world. Through its work in soil regeneration and agriculture, DIRT is helping shape a more resilient future for fashion and the planet.