Bien Mal and Normal became bicoastally connected, as many today have, over initial emails, late night texts, and countless video calls - yet the instant bond that we felt spanned the miles between Brooklyn and LA. Cross country design came with discovering shared experiences and forming a lasting relationship through months of planning, sketching, deciding on prints and deciding again - but from the beginning the feeling was tangible that we were creating something special.

As the introductory collaboration for both brands, we knew that design was an integral piece of how we wanted to communicate. As conversations began around patterns, colors, and textures our cultural proclivity towards maximalism reared its head, ensuring that no creation of ours could be mistaken as anything less. Conversation around textiles quickly became storytelling and through this process, we resolved to weave each unique story into our designs, bringing a sense of home away from home into the lives of people who need it.

Through their creations, Normal founder, Lale Boz, discovered Bien Mal and knew that they were meant to work together. Lale created Normal in 2020 with the initial idea of sharing the design process of her current Brooklyn apartment, and saw it grow into a large, international online community. It exists today as a virtual inspiration page, space for collaborations, and full scale interior design studio. Raised in Istanbul, Lale brings a unique Turkish influence to her work through her use of traditional colors and patterns with a modern twist. Her maximalist design sense is reflected in her creations as the pieces combine various elements of the many places she calls home to cultivate one full representation of who she is.

Our journey is similar to many like us - we who come from foreign nations to a country not our own to create something that feels like home. Though we shared this experience along different points in our lives, it was along a similar path - of finding ourselves strangers to a new city and navigating through the realities of living life as a foreigner without the stability of our customs to guide us. Yet through beautiful moments of love and growth, we created cultures all our own: a blend of our heritage and roots, deliciously woven in with the traditions that we’ve made for ourselves in our new home. It’s this shared experience that we wanted to bring to our communities, and what ultimately led to the creation of Common Backgrounds by Bien Mal x Normal; a collection of three handcrafted, multifunctional throws, designed as a reflection of all that we share and the homes that we wish we could bring with us. 

After making an active life decision to bring beauty into this world, Beatriz Blank and Ivan Almaral, two Venezuelans now based in Los Angeles, founded Bien Mal. In the initial phases of the process, jacquard woven blankets became a natural choice for the brand’s first product - bringing beautiful warmth, literally and proverbially, to any space through a combination of large scale design, texture, color, and function. Through their designs, they sought to create a transformational piece that seamlessly blends beautiful design with practical function while evoking a sense of joy and intimate connection.

The three blankets included in this collection, Central Park West, Faux-chet, and Abuelita, are reflections of both brands and the places and people that they hold close to them. Each multifunctional piece can be used not only as a cozy blanket or individual throw, but also as a tablecloth, picnic blanket, rug, or any other way that reflects what home means to you. 

We’re weaving together pieces of our individual, collective, virtual, tangible homes or any other space where you feel safe to be most yourself, to bring you three unique pieces to add warmth, style, and personal identity to your space. Whether your blanket sits draped across your dining table stained with wine rings, collecting petals and crumbs at a picnic, underneath a collection of your favorite records, or well loved on an armchair, we hope that you’re able to find a piece of home away from home in the comfort of these blankets.