ABOUT NFULLERART

Summary:

• NFULLERART: is a brand, by Nicola Fuller (Me), a wildlife conservation artist.

• I sell wildlife artwork, prints and other products, as well as 3D printed products and designs.

• I’m aiming to do something unique—and use it to educate and raise awareness around conservation issues while incorportating creativity.

• When you buy from me, you support global conservation efforts—not just big-name charities, but the smaller, overlooked projects too. It won’t be much at first, but the goal is to become a major contributor across areas like rewilding, anti-trafficking, and deforestation.

• I never expected to get into 3D printing. It’s plastic, I know—it’s controversial in this space. But it’s here to stay. So why not build something better from the start? Something sustainable. We can try, anyway.

  • Every 3D printed item you buy from nfullerart supports SAS: Surfers Against Sewage, who are directly involved in ocean plastic clean up.

  • All my products are made with PLA, a bioplastic ,and eventually, I want to have the option that people can send their PLA products to us for recycling, as right now, yes, PLA is better in production terms, but not so good for recycling and reusability.

  • I funnel the profits first into recycling my own production, so all out waste, failed prints and cut-offs are sent to proper recycling/ reuse facilities that deal with PLA plastics.

  • I am developing informational products and extras to educate people about the use of PLA and the environmental effects of print farms/ other industrial productions.

  • Eventually, I aim to use better materials as they become available, and there will be blogs to come as I discover new filament products and materials in the industry.

  • As I say, 3D printing is going nowhere. I believe in 30 years every household will typically own a plug and print 3d printer in much the same way most households own a 2D photo printer. I don’t believe it is smart, therefore to ignore the issue and refuse to use something that has such potential. I think we need to be at the forefront of making that more sustainable.

What makes NFullerArt special?

I saw an advert on YouTube for a charity, and they had this incredible concept that got me thinking...

The primary premise is that when you donate, 100% of your donation goes to the project and groundwork itself. The rest is funded by grants and other schemes, so you aren’t paying for an admin person to run the charity—we all know how that feels.

There’s a lot of controversy around this with almost all of the larger, household-name charities. Back to this later.

Have you ever bought a seasonal greetings card from a supermarket and noticed it says it's supporting a charity on the back? It always sticks in my throat. I think, “Yeah right, my £2 card pack—probably less than a penny goes to them, and none of that will go to the support it actually needs.” I find it all a bit icky.

The secondary premise of that charity was that you get some kind of confirmation or literature that shows you how much you donated and where it went to support the cause.

This all got me thinking. There are so many wonderful, unique, and effective smaller charities and conservation projects around the world—but most people only donate to the Big 5. These are highly controversial, and I think we can do better. I’m not saying they don’t do incredible work, or that you should cancel your subscriptions and donations. I just want to do it differently.

I have so many ideas for products and prints I can make, and I thought—why not pick smaller or more niche wildlife charities and projects to support?

The other thing that always puzzled me was how shops often have charity boxes at tills, and they’re contracted—usually annually—to support only one charity, meaning they have to decline donations to “rivals.” I get that spreading money out can reduce impact, but if it means someone won’t donate at all, then that’s silly.

So I came up with this crazy idea that my husband thinks is both impractical and logistically impossible:
I want to give a fixed 10% of all my profits from our original work, to conservation projects around the world.

I know it’ll mean pennies per charity at first, but as I grow, so will that amount. I want to tell people exactly how much of their money went to charity and what that charity does. I want transparency. I want to shine a light on how much actually goes to groundwork.

Let’s say I pick a larger charity—which I might, if the product fits—I won’t avoid them completely, they have big affects on conservation and we would be lost without them. But I want more clarity in how we donate and support conservation. I want to find the estimates on percentage of donations that go to groundwork vs. admin or marketing, and show you.

I want every purchase from work we created, to tell you exactly how much you donated and where it went—even just roughly.

I hope to educate people on the variety of conservation work they can support. To shift people from being donors to just the Big 5, to becoming supporters of diverse, global projects that need it just as much.

NFullerArt: the first year.

The story around NFullerArt and how it came to be: (This is going to sound terribly dramatic and negative, but it isn’t. Not really. Just, keep reading.)

THE STRUGGLE:

I’ve always wanted to create work and sell it—originals or prints—so when the opportunity came up to do just that, I took it. I brought along my art and stickers, but quickly realised I didn’t have enough to fill a table with my friend. So, I also grabbed all the 3D printed items we had around the house—things my husband had made for me.

In that first instance, I completely sold out of my 3D items. They flew out.
In four months, however, I only sold one small print at a discount and two cards.

What I did discover was that I was actually very good at 3D printing. I made models and fidgets and sold more than I ever imagined. But I felt misaligned. I didn’t enjoy selling fidget toys and junk to people—things that would just end up in a drawer once the fad passed. I made the decision to stop selling dragons once the Christmas period was over.

My husband wasn’t sure, and neither were my friends or family. From the outside, it looked like I was giving up on something successful. But I wasn’t planning to stop—I just needed to align my business with my values.

On top of that, I was physically sick. With my chronic illness, I found it hard to manage market stalls without significant help. Between the stalls, 3D printing, and flare-ups, I didn’t have time to draw, create, or explore online sales and social media. I felt deflated and miserable.

Fast forward to January 2025: I had stopped selling 3D printing trends and had boxes filled with Christmas stock. I listed it online—but made zero sales from January through March. I still couldn’t sell my art prints. I’d started a TikTok that was completely broken.

I was good at TikTok. I hit 120,000 views per post and grew the account to monetisation thresholds in weeks. But I had to do this three times. My original account had serious system issues, and I was advised to delete it. I did—but the problems carried over. By the third attempt, I was ready to pull my hair out. After three months of back and forth with support, the conclusion was: all my personal details are locked to the original account, which wasn’t properly deleted on their end, and can’t be.

I can’t use TikTok for business. I can’t monetise. Any payments from shop orders are floating in “TikTok space.”

So… here I am, May 2025. I stepped away from successful 3D print sales to move online, but I can’t use the most engaging platform to drive traffic. And since stopping market stalls, I’ve made exactly three sales.

MY SELF DISCOVERY AND DECISIONS: