Meet Lief Storer, AKA DLi$h; Engineer by day, artist, mad scientist, social mastermind and owner of Delicious Drips every spare moment he’s got.  Lief was not only instrumental in getting The Apex off the ground but he seems to find the time and energy to launch project after amazing project in the pursuit of his artistic vision.  His latest venture, ShopWars, is taking the San Francisco art scene by storm!  ShopWars is a DIY art contest in which shops, tattoo parlors, galleries, production companies, you name it, puts forth their best artistic revelations to create the ultimate customized 8” vinyl masterpieces.  Using Toy2R’s own 8” DIY QEE’s as the base model, this show is bringing together an artistic community in the Bay Area that is just brimming with raw talent.  (read the scoop here) This is just one of many irons in the fire helping to create the legacy of Lief Storer; artistic visionary, networking guru, holder of the flame and entrepreneur extraordinaire.

Lief’s curiosity with the 3-dimensional canvas (“2.5 D” – a term Lief uses to describe the transition an artist makes from treating a piece like a 2-D canvas to using the shape of the toy to give their art definition) started on a business trip to Taiwan, where he saw a store full of 18” DIY vinyl toys.  It didn’t take long for that curiosity to turn into an obsession.  From customizing 60” QEE’s to designing the SkullyBOOM SB1 (a wearable speaker, so one can BOOM all over the place… see story here.

Lief’s work is fresh and innovative.  A self described adventurous and impulsive human, Lief is busy setting the stage for DIY vinyl prominence in the urban art world.  With his engineer’s influence overlapping into his artistry and his ingenious use of mixed media, spray paint and acrylics, Lief Storer has taken custom designer vinyl toys to the next level.

Lief has worked hard promoting the scene that he loves.  Having established himself as an artistic force, he now finds himself encouraging and promoting the artists around him.  Delicious Drips itself is crafted as a collective of diverse talents with the common goal of pushing the envelope.  We dig his art and think you will too.  You can check out more of his style and even bring some of it home at DeliciousDrips.

With his non-stop lifestyle, it’s not easy getting Lief Storer to sit down to answer a few questions but he did just that… briefly!  Read on:

Question 1: How do you describe your style?

I tend to bounce back and forth between a very steampunk influenced industrial style and brightly rendered pop surrealism.  My trademark so to speak are well rendered stitches that either have drips oozing out or tentacles.  I seldom attach a character to the tentacles because I like to leave it up to my fans imagination to conjure the monster.

Question 2: What inspired you to start Delicious Drips?

Initially, I just wanted to get my own art out there.  Being new to the scene, I thought it would be helpful to partner with a couple more well known guys like Coolvader and Phuek.  Now that I’ve been at it for almost three years, I’ve established myself as an artist, but I’ve shifted some of my attention to promoting other vinyl artists.  The joy of innovation and creativity that vinyl has brought about in my life is something I hope I can share with others.

Question 3: So you’re launching your first production product this year, can you tell us about it?

SkullyBOOM!!! Yeah, so this product is the result of when vinyl toy customization opens entirely new avenues of product development.  It was around a year ago when I looked at the Urban Warfair Skully and I thought it’d make a sick speaker.  It wasn’t till I put it on my desk at my day job when the idea came across to make it into a portable speaker.  I was heavily influenced by the Headphonie because I thought that was a great product, but there were several things I wanted to do to SkullyBoom to make it more tailored to alternative athletes.

Question 4: Are you an athlete?

Hell yes!  I try to ride my fixie around as much as possible.  His name (the bike) is Felix and I take him around with me just about anywhere I go.  He’s been with me to New York, Tapei, Lake Tahoe etc.  I also ski quite a bit, but it’s not quite as convenient as biking because you can’t really run errands while you’re skiing.  Adventure is truly an essential ingredient in being entrepreneurial.

Question 5: Well it sounds like you got your hands full huh?

You can say that.  I only sleep about 5 hours a day and I’m an honest workaholic.  Speaking of which, I gotta get back to work.  Nice chattin’ with ya.

Check out some of DLi$h’s work: