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Blunk began making jewelry in 1954 at Palos Verdes College in Los Angeles, where he taught ceramics after returning from four years in Japan. He continued to make one-off pieces throughout his life from his studio in Inverness, California. Although his best-known works of art are monumental—such as his home in Inverness, and his public seating installations—the jewelry illustrates the continuity of form and gesture amongst all Blunk’s works, whether intimate or massive in scale.

The Blunk House, which Blunk built by hand for himself and his family using entirely salvaged materials, gradually expanded to include the entirety of its contents. Blunk made most of the furniture, and all the objects that were necessary for everyday life—cups, mezcal glasses, plates, dishes, carafes, salad servers, chopping boards, vases, candle holders, soap dishes, incense holders, and even coat hooks.

Blunk Books, the publishing company of the JB Blunk Estate, was founded in 2020 by the Estate's Director Mariah Nielson to publish the first monograph about the artist, JB Blunk, which is now in its fourth edition. Blunk Books has since expanded, publishing catalogs for major exhibitions of Blunk's work, such as Continuum (2024), and related art and design projects, such as Undesigning the Bath by Leonard Koren.