Artist Spotlight: Nina D’Antonio

Artist Spotlight: Nina D’Antonio / Shattered Shapes 

Welcome to our May Artist Spotlight. Apologies for this one being a little delayed, part of our team (including myself) have spent the past 3 weeks visiting South Korea and Japan. So for anyone that doesn’t know, this is a series we recently introduced to U RESIN where we share the many talented Artists’ we get to work with and share some of their greatest achievements.

About the Artist: Nina D’Antonio

Nina has been a long time customer and friend to us here at U RESIN. We first met her in 2018, when we brought over Texas-Based artists’ to run some resin workshops. Nina flew to Perth from Adelaide, South Australia to learn and participate but in a matter of no time, became an inspiration to us. Nina began ‘Shattered Shapes’ as a mosaic business in 2015. She created artworks, portraits, cheeseboards and more with gorgeous and unique designs. It wasn’t until 2017 where Nina found resin at Spotlight, and this is what sparked a new creative interest for her.

Since 2018, we’ve learnt so much about Nina, that we fast became friends. Nina became one of our first U RESIN Stockist’s and invited us over to Adelaide where we hosted 3 Sold-Out Workshops together in August 2019. Over the years we have visited each other and shared inspiration and artworks, learning all about Nina’s creative processes and techniques. Since then Nina expanded her creative side to create resin homewares, artworks and tables as well as branching into Jesmonite, Water-Colours and Silicone Mould making. In 2019, Nina became a huge hit with her stunning range of high-quality Silicone Moulds. This was an era where moulds in the resin world, weren’t quite a ‘thing’ so it was very niche at the time. Nina designed, hand poured and shipped thousands of custom moulds around the world! Her moulds and designs inspired many.

Nina recently visited us here in Perth once again, where we spent a few full days in the studio, watching Nina create and try new products whilst stepping out of her usual comfort zone. During this process we also asked some questions that we didn’t already know.

Q&A Session with Nina –

Do you remember the first piece of art you created? Nina grew up being a fairly creative person, but began her resin journey in early 2017 at home. Back then, there weren’t many YouTube videos or Workshops around resin, so Nina thought she would give it a go herself. Nina said “I really wasn’t sure what I was doing but wanted to give this resin thing a go. I got set up under my tree in the back yard, mixing up my resin and decided to have a cigarette, thinking I’ve got time. After the cigarette and without knowing any better, the resin had already began setting and with no colours pre-mixed.” Nina was then in a mad rush to get something down to the canvas. Panic had set in as she didn’t want to waste the product, so she managed to create something, but she knew it wasn’t her finest work. This piece is still hidden away at Nina’s house as a memory of how far she has come.

What is your favourite medium to work with and why? Nina explained “Resin is definitely my favourite medium to work with, more specifically U RESIN Liquid Glass. It is such a versatile product and very forgiving which makes it a great product to use for many different projects.”

Nina went on to tell us that her mosaic work gives her a similar joy when she can find the will to create something. Mosaicing is very therapeutic and “allows me to go into another world where i can let go of all outside barriers.” For Nina, resin gives her a very similar feeling, but there is far more concentration involved on a single resin piece opposed to creating a mosaic.

Where do you usually find inspiration?  Nina loves to push the boundaries with pieces and take her artworks to new levels. Nina shared “I like to find inspiration from visiting local shops, as well as seeing other talented artists on Instagram and Pinterest.” Whilst Nina admires a number of Artists’ online, she knows after years of working with various mediums, you can never really “copy” another artists’ work as resin will often have a mind of it’s own, which also makes it such an interesting product to work with.

Whilst visiting us here in Perth, we spent a day visiting some other local craft stores as well as homewares stores. From this alone, Nina found some pieces that she would love to create for herself and even bought some trinkets that she went home with to create new silicone moulds from.

How do you decide when a piece is finished?  More often than not, Nina tends to work on pieces in single layers, meaning that there isn’t a whole lot of resin on the piece. “Trying to create as much depth and dimension in a single layered piece can be difficult” but Nina has a knack for finding that soft spot and knowing when she feels she is done. When Nina was frequently teaching workshops one of her biggest tips to her students was “if you are debating adding or changing anything, it’s the best time to stop.”

It is always better to let a piece dry, come back the next day and see if you are somewhat happy with the result. If not then come back the next day again to re-evaluate the design and start the next process. This is something we got to witness for ourselves in the studio during her recent visit. Nina started a huge 80cm Round Art board, where she started using our U RESIN BuildFX to add a textured base before applying a resin layer. Our first day in the studio, Nina did the first layer of each but she thought she may not be happy with the overall finish. We came back to the studio the next morning, evaluated the piece and a new layer was then added to the artwork.
This particular piece was filmed and is will be available as a 3-Part series on our YouTube channel shortly. We will add the link here once live:

Is there a technique or medium you really want to try but haven’t? Nina shared that there isn’t much she hasn’t given a go at one point or another. But with the recent release of our U RESIN BuildFX system, Nina is excited to push it to it’s limits and see what she can create with it. “While there are other similar products, like modelling pastes, this is really different to anything else that is out there and so much fun to work with. I’m excited to see how far I can push it and what I can create with BuildFX.”

How do you overcome a ‘creative block’? This was a slightly difficult question for Nina to answer as this is something she is still trying to figure out herself. One thing Nina did find, was visiting us here in Perth and spending some time with our team in the studio, did help crack her recent creative block. She found new inspiration and went home with an abundance of ideas.

What do you love about U RESIN? “Besides the incredible people running it, I love how consistent you are as a brand and the products you make over the many years working with you.” One of the stand out comments Nina made was “Out of the many brands of pigments I have and have used, your pigments are the only ones that have never gone solid, caught alight or given me issues mixing.” Our epoxy pigments have always worked well for Nina and the pieces she creates. This along with our resin systems have allowed Nina to create thousands of resin artworks over the last 7 years.

One thing Nina specifically mentioned to us was whilst visiting our studio in March 2025, it was a 36 degree day, and she was still able to create a 80cm round piece with 45 minutes of working time. This was more than enough working time for Nina to create her ocean inspired piece which is featured on our YouTube channel.

Nina & U RESIN –

We cannot believe how far Nina and Shattered Shapes has come since we first met in 2018. It has been truly inspiring to see Nina’s art flourish and expand. Nina is one of those people that can create something beautiful from nothing. No matter what creative medium she puts her hand too, it will always turn into something breathtaking.

Nina also shared that her Top 3 U RESIN Products include: U RESIN Liquid Glass (our Best Selling Art Coating resin system), our full pigment range and U RESIN BuildFX.

Since hosting Nina in our studio, we were able to capture some of her beautiful work which you will be able to see on our instagram: @uresinperth. We will also have a  whole series of long form videos available on our YouTube channel: @URESIN

If you want to see more of Nina’s resin artworks, you can follow her on Instagram: @Shattered_Shapes. 

We would like to extend a massive thank you to Nina D’Antonio for choosing to work with us at U RESIN to bring her creative visions to life. It’s collaborations like these that remind us why we’re so passionate about providing artists with the best materials to express their creativity. If you’re an artist looking for high-quality materials, check out the range of products and other professional-grade supplies we manufacture and supply to bring your own visions to life and unleash the artist within. Until next time, happy creating! ✨