A tribute to a remarkable man.

An extraordinary man, Nick Fisher, forever influenced our lives as creative entrepreneurs. My remarkably talented husband Friedel worked for the husband-and-wife team, Jo and Nick Fisher, in the UK many years ago, but their legacy in our lives remains.

Jo and Nick were a remarkable couple. They had travelled through Africa for forty years, bringing up their son between the plains and sands of Africa and their charming farmhouse in Suffolk.

Their house epitomized their meandering relationship with Africa and Asia on their eclectic and exotic travels. Very often the road less travelled. The hidden unexplored paths of local cultures, traditions, and symbolism.

Nick became an extraordinary visionary, creating award-winning projects in the UK, including the conversion of grade II listed Victorian warehouses in Halesworth and incredible barn conversions into iconic homes, resplendent with lakes and moats.

He transformed crumbling, decrepit outbuildings at their Belle Grove Farm into five-star accommodation, a soulful and sacred retreat from the world.

Twenty years ago, when Nick was staying with us in Linden Johannesburg, he had us mesmerized with his stories of Africa and beyond. We were then in the early stages of setting up our business, Creative Stone.

Nick, in his trademark ponytail and hat, sidled up to me one morning and said, “Ali, tell me, what business are you in?”

“What?” I thought “that’s weird, he knows what business we are in. Why would he ask that?”

“What business are you in?” He asked again. I replied, “We create beautiful spaces with our outdoor stone accents.”

“Well, why does the side of your house look like this?” he said, pointing to the old slasto paving flanking the entrance to the office.

We had done beautiful features in the garden area but we had not thought to transform that critical area.

Two weeks later, our entire entrance looked different with our large pavers in a striking design flanked by stone clad planters with roses and lavender.

“What business are you in?” those words stayed with me for the rest of my life.

“Creating beautiful spaces” has become the slogan of our company and a symbol of our life together. My husband says “I build our houses for romance – a soulful expression of our creativity and love”.

Building is the unique exploration of his vision in architecture, design, engineering and nuance of color, texture and flow.

Building is his art form!

Our home is our love language.

And I think it was Jo’s and Nick’s beautiful houses, their love affair of life, that inspired Friedel to live a life of both art, design, technical genius and contribution. Creating beautiful spaces.

Your legacy lives on in him, Nick. You influenced our lives more than you will ever know .

In loving memory of Nick Fisher. Nov 1948 – March 2021

A life well lived.

Thank you for tribing with me.

https://bellegrovebarns.com/.