The hardest creative brief we've ever had? Our own.
In 1997, we set up a multi-disciplinary design studio, working with clients across many sectors to find their voice — from cultural institutions and not-for-profits to a football club. Then, when we started Storigraphic in 2020, we had to find ours. And in doing so, we became the client.
After years spent shaping everyone else's identity, turning that eye on ourselves was the real challenge. Finding our own design language — one that actually looked and felt like us — took longer than almost anything else.
And then there's everything you don't see in retail. Manufacturing, sales, marketing, PR, technology, packaging, fulfilment, logistics, inventory, wholesale, trade events — and that's before a single order ships. Decades in, we were beginners again, learning most of it in real time, most days.
All the way through, we found the warmest, most generous people quietly cheering us on — retail partners, fellow brands, customers, event organisers, designers, makers. The independent retail world is formidable: full of hard-working, passionate souls who back each other. Those relationships, conversations and support have meant everything.
On Tuesday 21 July we're sharing our journey at CamCreatives in Cambridge — what it really takes to cross from designing for clients to building a brand and taking it to market. If you work for clients, run your own brand (or hope to one day), or just enjoy a good story from the other side of the brief — come along.
