In August, we gave you a look inside Scott Flora’s home and this time we are back with the other Blik co-founder, Jerinne Neils. We asked Jerinne to give us a tour of her sleek, Venice apartment.

“After living in the infamous Oakwood section of Venice for 10 years, I moved into a new apartment complex in Venice designed by Kanner Architects with plenty of smooth walls perfect for Blik. My old place was where Blik was born. It was used as a testing ground for new products and materials and there was Blik everywhere – but not in a homey kind of way.”

“Now our office is where we do our testing so I bring only a decal or two home to live with for a time; I like the mix of Blik with other accessories and artwork. Right now I’m living with one wall decal (Mulher Skull which is so creepily cute, I like how you only notice them looking at you when the door is closed) and two Pattern Wall Tiles – Psychedelic Garden and Fishwall.

I’m thrilled with the Pattern Wall Tiles and how easy they are to install and the way they can completely change the look and feel of a room. Fishwall really warmed up my living area; I love it. And yes, that’s me in the Fishwall product shots.”


 
Next to Fishwall in Jerinne’s living room, your eyes gaze up to the striking painting by LA artist Liz Brizzi. The bookshelf is sprinkled with various objects from Africa and Thailand. As a former food editor, she has (what looks like to us) an extensive cookbook collection, although according to her, that’s just what’s left of it.

That leads us to her kitchen, where “He is not hurt badly” by LA artist Walt Hall rests next to her stove and two African figurines. In Jerinne’s bedroom, a Psychedelic Garden wall tile frames her bed. We are digging artist Gene Guynn’s “Catching Bullets” on the nightstand. And as she mentioned, Mulher Skull peeks out from her bedroom sliding door.

 
Stroll down the hallway and you’ll see her Amy Ruppel collection. The pieces were the inspiration for working with Amy on a line of wall decals. Jerinne first came across Amy’s work through a mutual retailer, Velocity Art & Design, six years ago and has been collecting her work ever since. “Amy is an artist close to my heart, because of our shared Portland roots and she represents the transition from owning art to then working with that artist on a line for Blik.”

 
Thanks for the tour, Jerinne! We’ll be back in January with another chapter of Blik in our homes.

We are big fans of Fab.com. The minute we read about their plan for daily design sales, we signed-up and waited (not so) patiently for the site to launch. And when it launched in June, we were not disappointed. Fab lived up to their promise of daily design inspirations and sales at up to 70% off retail – and have become the new arbiters of impeccable style.

After testing the waters with a few or our artist partners (BY:AMT and Rex Ray), we are very excited to kick off our own Blik sale this Sunday, October 30. We curated it to give you a snapshot of the “best of the best” of Blik and we think it speaks to where we started 9 years ago (think forever fresh Sweet 16) and where Blik is today in 2011 (eco-friendly fabric Pattern Wall Tiles). As cool as ever.

Enough talking, now mark you calendars to do some shopping with Blik and Fab on Sunday, 10/30 at 8am PST. The Blik sale runs until 11/2 at 8am EST. Don’t have a Fab account? Sign-up today and we promise you won’t regret it.

Last week, one of our super-talented designers here at Blik, Ryan Bubion, took it upon himself to revamp a sad, tagged truck parked outside our office. We think Ryan describes his process best, so we’ll let him speak in his own words.

“Tired of looking at the same tagged truck every day, I decided something had to be done. Right away I knew I wanted to do some sort of portrait, go big and super colorful. While thinking about what to paint I noticed helicopters flying overhead and then the idea hit me. Why not do a giant colorful head looking up? It could be a metaphor for looking at things on the bright side, keeping your head up and thinking positive.”

“I really enjoy the process of painting big and outdoors. Being exposed to the natural elements and textures is a big contrast from designing on the computer. Climbing up and down the ladder, getting my hands dirty, and talking to passers-by are all things that added to the experience.”

Congrats to Ryan for the amazing job. Part of our inspiration at Blik is leaving our comfort zone, being creative and building things. This is a great extension of the design work we do everyday at Blik.

So, how did he do it?

1. First he sketched the face directly on the truck. According to Ryan, getting the proportions right at that scale was tricky, but once he had the form of the head the way he wanted it, he began filling it with different geometric shapes.

2. Once the fill’s and colors were segmented, he realized that he wasn’t happy with the line quality. Getting a super straight clean line is tough with spray paint, so he taped off each shape to achieve the clean polished look he was after. The taping and finishing is what took the longest.

3. Six hours later, and a few empty spray cans later, he was done.

Pop Quiz! Do you know what makes Blik different from other wall decal companies? We are ARTISTS and we work with other ARTISTS to create our designs. We’re not just doing quick vector files and rushing them out as products. A great example of this in action is through the work with our partner, Babybot. We’re teaming up with them to create wall decals based on their lovable Babybot characters. We invite you to take a peek inside the Babybot lab to see hand-drawn sketches of three upcoming wall decals.

You might know Babybot as an online baby and kids store (based in Canada) that’s geared towards a minimalist, style centric mind-set. Babybot is one of Blik’s favorite Canadian retailers and we might add, a very cool group of people. Here are some sketches that Felix Wong, the brilliant creator of Babybot’s brand characters, has been working on with the Babybot and Blik design teams.

Dangly Carrot: Dangly Carrot tells a fun story that plays on the idea of the proverbial dangling carrot. The decal can be moved around to create multiple scenes and will be available in a number of colors, so parents can really get creative with it. We like the narrative and the simplicity of it.

Build-a-Bot/DIY Bots: Think of it as a decal version of Mr. Potato Head. Mix and match bot bodies, faces and accessories to create your own characters. The decal will be printed on our Re-Stik material allowing you to change it up and create new bots whenever your heart (or bot) desires.

Babybot Land: Say hello to the entire Babybot cast of characters (we are just showing you a few characters in the image below) in Babybot Land. We love that this decal has many elements and components, so you can create your own delightful scenes.

Loved the sneak peek of upcoming Babybot designs? Stay tuned for more previews before the graphics launch later this fall. And make sure you leave a comment below and tell us which one is your fave.

We also hope that you have a better understanding of how we design and work at Blik — and what makes us different (we think different = better…)

The Lomography “Diana World Tour” has been traveling all over the globe hosting the world-famous Detrich Collection, as well as custom clone and vignette exhibitions unique to each stop. After a long journey, the collection of over 100 vintage cameras is finally making a visit to the Lomography Gallery Store in Los Angeles starting on Thursday, October 14.

This stop of the tour includes a collection of Diana F+ cameras that have been customized by some of L.A.’s finest artists, illustrators, creative types, Lomographers and philanthropists. And Blik is one of them! All proceeds from the sale of the customized cameras will go to the participant’s charity of choice. Blik has chosen the Boy and Girl’s Club of Venice.

Below is Blik’s customized Diana F+ camera that’s up for bid. To see it in person, join us for opening night on October 14th to kick off the silent auction, plus there will be drinks, live music and free gifts. If you can’t make it, then stop by the gallery anytime by November 14 or place your bid online for this cool one-of-a-kind Blik wall graphic or on any of the tricked out Diana F+ cameras. On November 14th there will be a closing party to finalize any last minute bids for the clones.

For more information visit the Diana World Tour Los Angeles blog and check out all the customized cameras.

UPDATE: The opening party rocked! Good crowd, great music and we had fun checking out all the Custom Clones included in the silent auction. Below are a couple of pics from the event. See more in Blik’s Flickr pool. The exhibit is on display until the closing night on November 14th so there’s still plenty of time to place your bid for a Custom Clone in store or online.

Tweet, tweet! A little bird told us there is a “banner trend” for nurseries.

If you’re looking for a fun way to add your child’s name to the nursery, look no further. Wee Gallery’s Birdie Banner lets you spell out their name (letter by letter) on a banner held up by two birdies. Trend or not, we think it’s a sweet way for your little one to learn their name.

Modern designophiles! If you haven’t gotten yours already, pick up the March 2010 issue of Dwell. Gracing the master bedroom of the “My House” featured home, is a Mina Javid for Blik custom headboard. We think it looks pretty terrific in the Venice, CA home of Eric Grunbaum, an Oregon-raised creative director for an LA ad agency. Besides being our neighbor, transplanted from the Pacific Northwest (like Blik’s Jerinne Neils), Eric selected esteemed architect Barbara Bestor to design his home. Well, it just so happens that Blik co-founder Scott Flora knows Barbara from his UCLA Architecture days. Bestor commissioned the “big red wall project”, a Blik custom installation outside of her office in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. It’s a small, small world.

Upcoming Blik artist, Saelee Oh opened her solo-show, “Infinite Roots” at Jonathan LeVine Gallery NYC this past weekend. The narrative for this collection is that all things are connected and that no one is ever, truly alone. The artist has said: “The roots of a plant are what secure it to an interconnected underground where all life is nourished, as the buds and leaves bloom above. The show title, Infinite Roots, alludes to the deep reaches of our intrinsic inner desires. The tone of the work in this series is bittersweet with hints of nostalgia. The pieces appear delicate and frail but the stories they tell are about timeless strength.”

Saelee’s work primarily consist of drawings, paintings and cut paper; however, she often experiments with different mediums. Her designs for Blik are true to her signature style of feminine, delicate strength and fairy tale-like stories. Saelee is an exciting talent who, like her art, is brimming with the depths of life and is blossoming creatively and professionally. Visit Saelee’s site for more information on her current show and works. The Saelee Oh for Blik line will drop within the next few weeks, so be sure to check back with us or sign up for our newsletter. ☞

We got to go to Greece this summer! Ok, no, not really. But our graphics did. One of our neighbors, clothing company, 291Venice, asked us to make some graphics for a special event hosted by one of their distributors in Mykonos, Greece. The graphics vamped up windows and walls to bring a bit of California sunshine to the Mediterranean. Coveted by celebrities and jet-setters everywhere, 291 is a collection of tees, hoodies, and bottoms created by 3 long-time friends. The aesthetic is inspired by the 1970′s beach culture of its namesake (Venice, 90291) and the global sophistication of today’s traveler. In other words, they’re perfect for kickin’ it in Greece. Sigh.