About the studio

A small studio with a long attention span.

Founded in 2014 by photographer and designer Leila Marand, Paper & Light works with a handful of clients a season, from first sketch to final print.

Meet the team Start a project

The studio with a lantern light, a mirror and a chair — The Ossington studio, where every shoot starts

Our story

We started with one camera, one client and a rule: never make anything we would not keep.

Twelve years later the rule still holds. We are four people around one long table, working across identity, photography and the web for bakeries, publishers, hotels, ceramicists and the occasional architect. We keep the studio small on purpose — it is the only way to stay close to the work.

Leila Marand — Founder & creative director

studio founded: 2014
projects each season: 6–8
clients who come back: 70%
cities, Toronto & Tehran: 2

What we believe

Four rules we keep

They decide which projects we take and how we spend your budget.

Fewer, better

We take on a few projects at a time, so the people who pitch the work are the people who make it.
Focus
Real light

We photograph real products in real light. Retouching cleans, it never invents.
Craft
Systems, not logos

A brand is the type, the colour, the paper and the pictures. We design the whole family.
Longevity
Plain language

Fixed fees, written briefs and no jargon. If something will not work, we say so early.
Honesty

The people

Four people, one table

Everyone on the team works on every project, from the first call to the final file.

Leila Marand

Founder & creative director

Photographer and designer, Leila founded the studio in 2014 after ten years in magazine art departments. She leads every shoot and every first workshop.

Arash Nikpour

Design director

Arash leads identity and editorial work. He has designed typefaces, magazines and more packaging than he can count, and still sketches every logo by hand first.

Mina Sadr

Studio producer

Mina keeps projects on time and on budget: casting, locations, printers and the shared calendar. She is the reason nothing is ever late.

Theo Lindqvist

Web designer & developer

Theo designs and builds the studio’s websites and online shops, with a soft spot for fast pages, good typography and large photographs.

Recognition

Awards & press

Kind words from juries and editors over the years.

2026 Velour — Packaging of the Year Applied Arts Awards
2025 Saffron & Salt — Merit, Identity Type Directors Club
2025 Margin Quarterly — Best Small Magazine Independent Publishing Fair
2024 Casa Alta — Shortlist, Architecture Sony World Photography Awards
2023 “Studios to watch” Design Edit Magazine
2022 Kiln & Co. — Gold, Craft Brand Graphis Design Annual

Inside the studio

Where the work happens

A long table, a north-facing window, too many paper samples.

Clients on working with us

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.

Nasrin Haddad — Founder, Saffron & Salt Bakery

Two studio days gave us a year of photographs. Every buyer asks who shot them.

Claire DuboisCo-founder, Velour Skincare

The new grid gave our writers room to breathe, and our production time halved. Readers noticed before we told them.

Daniel OkaforEditor, Margin Quarterly

Leila photographed the light we designed for. The series opens our monograph.

Marco BelliniPartner, Studio Alto Architects

Let’s make something you will keep.

Book a free 30-minute discovery call, or write to us about your project.

Book a discovery call Write to us