After a semester visiting San Francisco in 1988, where he went to present himself with his portfolio in many graphic design studios and getting to know practically every living graphic designer in this city, JBL flew back in Switzerland full inspired by the Californian spirit and opened his own studio in Basel.

Between 1991 and 1995, for the end of each year, just like his San Francisco colleagues used to do it, JBL created his own new years cards, printing them and sending them out by classical mail to clients, colleagues and friends around the world.

Those cards received a load of enthusiastic responses in the graphic community and were published in international design publications. Made of his personal photographic material, each piece was full of visual codes, and graphic hints, ready to be decrypted. "Have a nice one" for 1991, "Just between you and me" for 1992, "Jamais deux sans trois" for 1993, "Only for you" for 1994, were a sort of JBL personal way to develop his graphic dialogue with others. In 1995, following the same collage principle, the cards turned into a sheet of customized stamps. Whoever still has them, owns a collectible !