All About Jackie Tahara!

UnBlink Studio was founded by me, Jackie Tahara, in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, where I am happily surrounded by mountains, forests, beaches and the Pacific Ocean. If I’m not working in my garden studio creating surface pattern designs and illustrations primarily for home decor, wallpaper, textiles, apparel, tech accessories, stationery and wall art, I might be going for a run, traveling with my family to somewhere we've always wanted to go, or exploring and being inspired by the natural surroundings of my West Coast home. 

If you love my designs, be sure to check out my SHOP Page where you can find links to my various SHOPS. Each Shop offers something a bit different, so I invite you to explore. If you are looking for something specific, just get in touch and I can point you in the right direction!
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​I am inspired by: the retro pattern designs of the 50's, 60's and 70's; the Japandi aesthetic; the intricate patterns of William Morris and Josef Frank; and the landscapes, textiles, colours and craft traditions I have seen throughout my extensive international travels (think: aloha shirts, jewel-toned silk saris, Indonesian batiks and weavings, Japanese kimonos, Middle Eastern tile-work, indigo dyeing and Mexican folk art, to name but a few!) My eyes are always open and I intend to never stop learning and exploring.
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Collaborations include: Mia Presley Designs, Harper & Blake London, Redflag Swimwear, Think Eco Store, Barefoot Baby Australia, Honeybee Wrap, WGSN, PicCollage, Amber Lotus Publishing, They Draw, Palphot Marketing, PI Creative Art and more.

My wallpaper designs were also spotted at the Toronto International Film Festival! Read more about my collaborations with photogrpaher Chris Chapman and Deadline Studio at TIFF 2021, TIFF 2022 and TIFF 2023!
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I have also won several public art competitions, and my work has been included in several Public Art Projects (see my Recent News for more info).

Shop my designs: my designs can be purchased on many wonderful products in my various Shops at Spoonflower, Happywall, TeePublic, Redbubble, Society6, Printler, Fy!  and Raspberry Creek Fabrics.

You can read (or listen to) more about me and UnBlink Studio in/on: Illustrators For Hire, Creativehowl, Design Milk, The Journal of the Craft Industry Alliance, The World Textile Information Network (WTiN), The World of Interiors Magazine, Wild & Precious Conversations Podcast, Uppercase Magazine, YAM Magazine and on the Spoonflower Blog and the world-renowned Print & Pattern Blog on several occasions. I was included in the 3rd and 4th Editions of the Uppercase Surface Pattern Design Guide (Issue #41, April 2019 and Issue #49, April 2021), featuring "the best in up-and-coming surface pattern designers", and my work was displayed in the Adobe Textile Designer Booth at ITMA Barcelona (June 2019) and at the Adobe Design to Print Booth at the Adobe Max 2019 Conference in Los Angeles, CA (Nov 2019).
My designs have also been included in the book, "Create Pattern Designs With Different Layouts", published by Jodoin Studio in Summer 2022 and available to purchase on Amazon.

For all my latest news, I invite you to check out my Recent News! page and my Blog.

The Story Behind the Name: "UnBlink Studio"

Many people have asked me: "Why 'UnBlink Studio'?" When I was deciding on a name for my studio, I wanted something a bit edgy or unusual, something that would catch attention because it wasn't 
"quite right". I thought about UnBlink because it's not actually a real word. "Blink" and "unblinking" are words, but not "UnBlink". And I thought that if someone was not blinking, then by definition they would be staring. A person might stare because they are studying something fascinating or beautiful; they might stare off into space thinking deeply about something; or they might stare at nothing at all in a Zen-like state. I liked all these connotations...thus the name!