Recently I spoke with MailChimp user and Richmond artist Brian Korte of Brickworkz LLC. Brian started Brickworkz as a way to create custom art and conversation pieces, using LEGO bricks as his medium of choice. The idea came to him in 2004 when two close friends were about to marry. Wanting to do something completely different, Brian looked through his LEGO stash and began designing a portrait of the couple using 10,400 LEGO bricks.

From there, Brian began building for a local gallery and designing custom portraits for families and businesses. In 2006, Brickworkz LLC was formed. Brian spent the next two years taking the show on the road to various LEGO-related events, capturing his completed works online. By 2007, online visitors from countries like Israel, Hong Kong, Ireland, Canada and England were requesting Brickworkz art.

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We would like to send a heartfelt congratulations to our friends at Scene 360 (who also happen to be MailChimp users) for winning the “Magazines” category in the 2008 Pixel Awards.  Established by Erick and Lisa Laubach in 2006, The Pixel Awards take a fresh look at the best on the web by annually honoring 20 compelling sites that have shown excellence in web design and development.  Scene 360 was up against some stiff competition this year, including adweek and Lifelounge, and we can’t think of anyone more deserving of the win!

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Adriana De Barros, Founding Editor and Art Director of Scene 360 about her initial idea for starting the publication, the evolution of the project and her thoughts about being nominated for a Pixel Award.  When asked what the best part of her job is, Adriana replied:

The best part is learning something new every day. The reason why I launched this project was to continue reading more, studying and learning, and sharing the things that I liked with others. I’m still doing that today, almost nine years later.

To read more about Scene 360 and how they use MailChimp, check out the interview here.

I recently spoke with Tony Riffel, owner and founder of Atlanta’s Octane Coffee Bar & Lounge and MailChimp fanatic.  Located in Atlanta’s west midtown near the Georgia Tech campus, Octane serves arguably the best espresso, coffee and tea around.  They also have great food, beer and wine, rounding out the “lounge” detail of the coffee bar & lounge tag line.  Tony and his wife were living in Portland when they came up with the idea to open a place like Octane.

“We were interested in coffee, so we decided to learn more and try to build the type of coffee place that we weren’t able to find in Atlanta.”

Octane has a reputation for employing some of the most knowledgeable baristas around, and Tony feels fortunate to have attracted so many great people who are willing to learn and teach others.  In February of 2008, Octane barista Ben Helfen won the Millrock Latte Art Competition in Washington DC, scoring $5000 for his perfect pour.  Then in May 2008, Octane baristas Ben and Danielle competed at the United States Barista Championship in Minnesota.

To read more about Octane and how they use MailChimp, check out the interview here.

Last week I had the pleasure of speaking with Thomas Hill, one of the masterminds behind San Francisco’s RooftopComedy.  RooftopComedy is dedicated to giving comedy fans access to the best, most cutting-edge professional comedy from around the globe, and they use MailChimp to help git-r-done.  Not only do they sponsor and host comedy festivals, competitions and events, they also host an array of hand-picked and hilarious videos on their website.

Click here to read Thomas’s thoughts about email marketing, boob jokes and more!