my story

Hello! I’m Nick Lavelle and I’m the owner and founder of transform. studio + nursery. I want to thank you for stopping by my site and looking around. Read on if you want to learn more about me.

I originally hail from the Dayton area of Ohio in the United States where I was always outside doing things like hunting for bugs or on the trails of the nearby metro park. My parents were avid gardeners so I think I had an appreciation for landscape design unbeknownst to me. I was also always drawing, dabbling in all different kinds of media, but mainly drawing wildlife of all different kinds and nature scenes.

Architecture seemed to be a great springboard for my creativity so I decided to give it a try and went to Miami University in Ohio (no not Florida, Miami was actually a university before Florida was a state). Designing buildings turned out to be really fun especially when I started to merge buildings with the landscape. So I actually found myself working more on the site plans than the buildings themselves. I minored in landscape architecture so I got a taste of what that profession did on a day to day basis and started to fall in love so I decided to switch gears and study landscape architecture.

I studied and received my masters degree in landscape architecture from the University of Michigan. There I received a solid education in both design but also ecological principles to help navigate designing in our shifting climate. Upon graduating in 2012 I moved out to Portland, Oregon. Since then, I have built a career in landscape design on projects ranging from small residential backyards to large corporate office campuses while becoming extremely knowledgable in the Pacific Northwest Climate as well as the native ecology. 

Now I reside in Toronto, Ontario in Canada where I’m looking to continue both my artistic journey but my journey as a landscape architect. When I’m not working, you can find me biking around the area or running on the trails. I also love to hike which is where I draw a lot of inspiration from that helps to drive the designs and plant relationships of the gardens I design.

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It was a little out of the blue that I started doing pastel art; I began painting the landscapes that I had recently visited on vacations. It turned out to be a good way to combat my depression too because when I was focused on what I was drawing, I didn’t focus on my depression. Painting these landscapes takes me to a completely different place. It’s like I’m immersed in the landscape itself, hearing all the sounds and smelling the fresh air. It wasn’t until my wife told me that they were really good did I realize that other people might enjoy them as well. So I decided to give selling them a try at a holiday makers market at my kiddo’s school in December of 2025. That night I sold 13 drawings in 2 hours and so I had the answer to my question of whether or not other people would enjoy my drawings. And so my art business journey began.

why art?

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Moving into our home became a turning point for me because up until that time I focused mainly on all the built elements in landscape design like hardscape, walls, and furnishings; plants didn’t really mean much to me except structural plants like trees. I also had a revelation that plants were the core of what we do as landscape designers and so I slowly became obsessed with plants.

My home became my laboratory and testing grounds for all different species of plants but with a focus on natives. I was able to watch all of the species I had very closely to understand all their growing traits firsthand. I wanted to be even more in-touch with plants so I started dabbling in growing my own plants from scratch. This turned into me starting to have my own plant sales on the weekends in my driveway and so that’s how the nursery part of the business began.

Plants, it turns out, happen to be one of my happy places. It’s a way to combat my depression. If I’m feeling low, I go outside, walk among my plants, get down and touch them, and I feel a little bit better. Plants have a magic ability about them that help people heal in all sorts of ways.

why plants?

Frequently Asked Questions

  • You can reach me anytime via our contact page or email. I aim to respond quickly—usually within one business day.

  • All art ships with care to you. We ship to both the United States and Canada. All prints ship free of charge and ship flat packed and not rolled. Framed originals have a shipping fee based on where you live and the carrier you choose. You can choose either Canada Post or Fed Ex.

  • I am currently residing in Toronto, Ontario in Canada.