Today we’d like to introduce you to Lacey OLeary & Julia Wunner.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Lacey: It really all started with a worn-down fence. In 2021 I was feeling very defeated trying to find a job during the pandemic. Since I can remember, I have always turned to art as therapy in stressful times. One of my closest friends had told me she hated her ugly fence and expressed that in the coming months she was going to try to save up to replace it. I asked if I could paint it before she took it down. I spent 3 days in my happy place painting away what would become a tropical scene. She never ended up taking down that fence to this day. I think it’s safe to say she loved it. After this, I would desperately wait until the work week was done so that I could spend my weekend painting any wall that I could. I was obsessed. At one point, I realized If I wanted to take this further, I didn’t just need another set of hands; I needed two of me. And I knew of only one other artist I was admittedly jealous of growing up but also fully respected.
Julia: I am a self-taught artist. All of my siblings are artistic and can draw. But we were also raised to be intentional in your skill to ensure you can support yourself. In 2021, I had just finished my degree in Graphic Design. At the time, I was unlucky enough to finish school when the pandemic was in full swing. All I could do was apply to jobs diligently, month after month. I was starting to feel the most discouraged when I got a random call from an old schoolmate. Although we attended school K-12 together, we could not be greater strangers to each other. Our paths crossed only because we shared a class every few grades. When I answered Lacey’s call, she basically said, ‘I know this is so random, but do you want to spend the day with me painting a mural?’. We ended up creating this super wide, colorful outdoor beach scene together, and at the end of it I think we were just both surprised at how we were able to blend our creativity and styles together. The day we finished that mural together was the day we decided on a business name. Since then, we have created over 60 murals together and counting.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
We both wouldn’t say it’s been a smooth road. And we still don’t expect the road to ever be a straight and even ride. There will always be bumps. We are two self-employed artists with a business license paying taxes, so yes, we had to learn a lot of things we did not know or expect. Our first bump was probably just the normal slow-down in business. We experienced it in our second year and are gearing up for it again. There will be weeks or possibly months where there aren’t as many jobs, or the jobs aren’t as big. And you just have to roll with it. We had to pull ourselves up and say okay; we have this extra time, what are we going to do with it right now? Another bump was the taxes for sure. In school, especially as artists, not much prepares you for the different ways in which you can make money and sustain your business. We consider ourselves businesswomen just as much as we are artists. So, learning how to manage that took a lot of time and effort and working with financial professionals.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
We design artwork to amplify and transform spaces. We not only design for walls, but we install these designs ourselves. Everything we do is intentional and customized to our clients. We are proud of every job we do. From the moment a client contacts us, it is a process from start to finish. We take pride in including our clients in the designing process, getting to know them and what makes their business, their airbnb, their home, their organization unique. We want them to shine through the work we do for them. This is kind of our adopted motto, and because of this intention we have connected with so many awesome people. We have met people who have truly impacted us. And we hope that we have impacted their lives and work in some way too.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Yes. To be honest, our business would not have been born if it wasn’t for this crisis. It put us both in a position to have no other option but to look for other opportunities. Without 2020’s turn of events, Lacey would have been teaching, and Julia would have been creating digital art. We hear very often people say to us something along the lines of “I am an artist. I wish I would have done what you two are doing now early on in my life.” We both feel blessed every day that Covid brought us together. It is a devastating event, one we wish never happened, but we learned that sometimes the best things come out of the most trying times.
Is there any pricing information that is relevant to our readers? If so, and if you would like us to share it, please include details (in bullet form) below.
We charge a rate per square footage. The rate we set all depends on your wall! The texture, the location, and height.
Contact Info:
- Website: brillydesignco.com
- Instagram: @brillydesignco
- Other: TikTok: brillydesignco
Image Credits
@brillydesignco
