With a crafty and caring approach to design, Memory Studio is revelling in the details

Clear to see from their intricate and individual identity work, Eli Horn and Lexane Rousseau, founders of Memory Studio, don’t just have a normal design education under their belts. The pair have both trained in traditional crafts like “hand lettering, drawing and painting”, meaning a lot of the wonderful illustrations and custom typefaces featured in their branding work are all carefully constructed in-house, letter by letter, line by line. “We both revel in the details and share a care for design as a craft,” Eli says.

From its base on Salt Spring Island, off the coast of Vancouver, Memory Studio is working far and wide on immersive identities for a range of international clients. Founded in 2012, the studio has had its feet planted firmly in the world of branding from the beginning, “as it allows us to work broadly and strategically, from brand positioning and naming to visual identity, through print, packaging, objects and environments,” says Lexane. In this multidisciplinary corner of the design world, the pair enjoy creating close relationships with clients and getting to stick with brands for years “building out a rich world that evolves along with the business”.

Much of the duo’s inspiration comes from early design movements such as those that developed out of the Arts and Crafts period, with figures like William Addison Dwiggins standing as their inspiration for “living creatively”. Their shared design practice is continuously set in motion by Lexane’s object design and Eli’s art practice: “Our studio, filled with tools and prototypes, is a truly transdisciplinary practice.”