December fans you made us proud! We saw a number of David Bray and Mina Javid entries, but we are naming Hafiza’s Race Ya Re-Stik installation as the December winner. Her car-crazy boys love looking up at the Race Ya Re-Stik track as they drift off to sleep. Hafiza gets props for the ceiling installation and the cleverly placed light fixture in the center of the track.

With the holidays in full swing and January just around the corner, we’ve put out the call for entries for our January Fan of the Month. Post a photo of Blik in your home or office on our Facebook wall, send us a tweet or email pr(at)whatisblik(dot)com. Just get your photo in by December 31, 2011 to be entered. The lucky winner gets a $25 Blik gift certificate, a Blik tee and a photo in our January Fan of the Month photo album on Facebook and Flickr. Good luck!

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.

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.

As part of our extra special birthday month, we wanted to give you a glimpse into our homes. Every other month, we’ll take you on a tour through a home of one of the Blik founders or staffers. The first stop on our journey is the crib of Blik’s co-founder Scott Flora. While many of the walls in Scott’s house have Blik graphics, we present to you three distinct rooms.

In his living room, we see Hybrid Design’s “Heart Breakout” in a delicious cotton candy hue. The striking David Bray graphic “I Never Saw the Sign” is prominently featured on the back wall with a glimpse of “Anise” on the far right peeking in from another room.

His daughter Aja’s room is bright and cheery with “Flutter” decals by Christy Flora. In the midst of the butterflies, lies Christy Flora’s original handmade paper butterfly box.

Lastly, one can gaze into the large “Fernwood Mirror” in Scott’s guest bathroom. It adds a perfect touch of elegance and boldness to the space.

If there’s one thing you can learn from Scott’s home, it is you can never have too much Blik. We’ll be back in November with another chapter of Blik in our homes. Stay tuned!

“Heart Breakout” (left)  “I Never Saw the Sign” (middle) “Anise” (right)

“Flutter” Re-Stik                                             “Fernwood Mirror”

“Invisible Robot”

Have you met Mykea? They are a super cool company from Amsterdam that allow you to personalize your standard, ubiquitous Ikea furniture with a variety of fun, vibrant decals. We’ve been a fan of Mykea since it launched and are thrilled to announce that Blik will now be manufacturing all Mykea products for the U.S.

How to Mykea: Mykea selects the most well-known Ikea furniture pieces and creates a special designers kit for each piece. Select your Ikea furniture, choose your design and redesign your Ikea furniture. No Ikea furniture? Some designs are available as wall decals too. Can’t find a design to your liking? Find out how to become a Mykea artist.

Stay tuned! In the coming months, you’ll see more collaborations between Blik and Mykea. And remember Mykea’s slogan: Say NO to NAKED furniture!

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…)

Blik is thrilled to be teaming up with the super creative Doodlers Anonymous to kick-off the Doodle Our Wall Showcase. Are you up for the challenge?

The idea is simple. Draw something amazing (we know you can do it), download the high-res image of Doodlers Anonymous’ studio wall and place your drawing on it. The winning drawing will be turned into a limited-edition Blik wall graphic. You heard us right, YOU could be the next Blik featured artist.

See Doodlers Anonymous for the exact submission guidelines. The deadline for submissions is Thursday, March 10 at 5:00pm EST. The submission with the most love wins. Get those markers ready and go!

Ahh, it’s almost the end of January and we are finally getting around to making our New Year’s resolutions. If you are anything like us, you rack your brain every year to think of resolutions to improve your life. Our advice, make only one resolution and you’ll be more likely to stick with it. Resolve to win the lottery, anyone?

1. Jerinne, co-founder: Step away from my computer.

2. Nick, Operations Manager/Custom Projects Manager: My new years resolution is more of a “life” revolution to be more creative.

3. Albert, Production: Pay more attention to my emails!

4.Heather, PR & Marketing: Enjoy the moment!

5. Cody, Social Media: Learn something that’s creative and has nothing to do with my vocation.

6. Ryan, Designer: I don’t make resolutions. It’s just another excuse to change your life. If you want to make a change, do it now.

7. Kim, Marketing: To only stay commitment phobic with my wall graphics.

8. Sonja, Custom Projects Manager: P90X, baby! Crap, I guess this means I really have to do it.

9. Scott, co-founder: Oh, sorry. Are you waiting on me? Let’s go with better time management.

We don’t usually name drop, but did you know that Ryan Kwanten of True Blood is a fan of Blik?

This week’s Us Weekly mentioned that Ryan had our fabulous Olive Tree wall graphic. We don’t mean to quibble, but Ryan actually has our Cyclamen and Spiderweb graphics, not Olive Tree.

We do agree with Us that Blik is a great way to decorate your digs instantly and liven up your space. Plus, Olive Tree is a fun way to bring nature indoors without having to remember to water daily  — something we always forget. Our suggestion? Get both Cyclamen and Olive Tree and forget that it’s cold outside (or raining if you live in California!)