Now booking projects for spring 2027
Paper & Light is an independent studio for brand identity, photography and art direction. We help founders, makers and cultural spaces look like themselves — on paper, on screen and on the shelf.
What we do
Selected work, 2022 — 2026
A few recent projects, each one a complete system: name, mark, type, photography and the places it lives.
01 — Saffron & Salt Bakery
Brand identity · 2025
02 — Velour Skincare
Packaging · 2026
03 — Margin Publishing
Editorial · 2025
04 — Studio Alto Architects
Photography · 2024
The studio
We are a small studio with a long attention span. We make fewer, better things for people who care how their work looks, feels and lasts.
Every project is led by the people you meet on the first call. No account managers, no hand-offs — just a designer, a photographer and a producer who stay with you from the first sketch to the last print run.
Leila Marand — Founder & creative director
Case study — Brand identity
A neighbourhood bakery opening its second location needed a brand that could stretch from paper bags to a 40-seat café without losing its warmth.
Challenge
Two locations, three logos and packaging that changed with every supplier. Customers loved the bread but could not recognise the bag.
Approach
A hand-drawn wordmark, a saffron and flour palette, kraft packaging with one-colour printing and a photography style built around morning light.
Result
One system across both cafés, 30% lower packaging costs and a queue that now photographs the bags.
+38%
weekend sales at the new café
−30%
packaging cost per order
6 wks
from brief to opening day
Case study — Packaging & photography
An independent skincare line wanted packaging and imagery as honest as its ingredient list — and a launch shoot that could feed a year of content.
A crowded shelf of beige minimalism. Velour needed to look calm without looking like everyone else.
Frosted bottles, a single saturated colour per product family and still lifes shot against painted paper instead of digital backdrops.
A sold-out first batch, stockists in four cities and a photo library of 140 images from two studio days.
140
images from one shoot
4
new stockists in launch month
11 days
until the first batch sold out
Services
Six disciplines, one studio. Most clients start with one and stay for the rest.
Names, marks, type, colour and guidelines — a complete system that holds together everywhere.
Product, portrait and interior photography in real light, for campaigns, shops and press.
Concepts, casting, sets and shoots for campaigns and launches that need one clear idea.
Image-led websites designed around your photography and built on a CMS you can edit.
Magazines, books, catalogues and annual reports with a grid that lets the content breathe.
Boxes, labels and bags that look calm on the shelf and make sense at the printer.
Process
Clear steps, fixed fees and one shared calendar. You always know what happens next.
A discovery call, a written brief and a workshop at your table or ours. We ask a lot of questions before we draw anything.
Moodboards, references and two clear creative routes. You choose a direction, not a logo.
Identity, photography and layouts built together, reviewed every Thursday in one shared document.
Final files, guidelines, a photo library and a launch-day checklist. We stay on call for thirty days.
From the archive
Outtakes, test shots and quiet moments from recent shoots.
Kind words
They spent two mornings behind our counter before they drew a single line. The new identity feels like our bread: warm, honest and recognisable from across the street.
Two studio days gave us a year of photographs. Every buyer asks who shot them.
The new grid gave our writers room to breathe, and our production time halved. Readers noticed before we told them.
Leila photographed the light we designed for. The series opens our monograph.
Studio shop
The tools we use every day, and a few photographs worth hanging. Digital files download instantly after checkout.
Lightroom Presets
12 warm, film-inspired presets for Lightroom desktop and mobile.
CAD 39.00 CAD 29.00
10 presets for product and still-life photography in daylight.
CAD 35.00
Print Editions
A single pine in a field of snow. Archival pigment print, edition of 30.
CAD 120.00
One mandarin on a bright blue ground. A cheerful still life, edition of 30.
CAD 120.00 CAD 96.00
Journal
Essays on light, process and running a small creative studio honestly.
Photography · Nov 1, 2026
Thirty-six frames, no screen and a week of waiting. Film slows the whole set down — and that is the point.
Process · Oct 31, 2026
Three hours, one table, too many paper samples. Here is how we turn a conversation into a brief.
Photography · Oct 30, 2026
You do not need a studio full of strobes. A north-facing window, a sheet of card and patience will take you surprisingly far.
Short answers to the questions we hear most. Anything else, just ask.
Two project slots open for spring
Tell us about your brand, your launch or your next book. We reply to every message within two working days.