MONTREAL GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

Olivier Charland and Cécile Gariépy have spent the past few years honing their creative skills at some of the world’s most respected small agencies. While Charland has lent his talents to the teams at Sagmeister and Walsh and Vallee Duhamel, Gariépy has been directing films for Les Enfants. From these auspicious beginnings they’ve learned that “…talent is not everything. Quality projects come from hard work, not just a great idea. We understand that you have to be ready to put the extra effort and to reconsider everything multiple times during the process to have a singular outcome.”

They’ve made work for Allianz, Microsoft, Vitamin Water, and Capitol Music, producing games, illustrations, animations, films, illustrations, and sets, all of which maintain a minimal, fresh aesthetic, with strong geometric sensibilities.



Armed with solid principles like these and, even rarer, a long-term vision for the future, they’ve launched their new studio, Par Hasard, which aims to become a collaborative culture of international talent administered by a small team in Montreal. “We would rather stay a small studio to make sure we are involved in every aspect of the projects,” says Charland. “Hand-picking projects that stimulate creativity is something we aim towards.

“We want to put forward an aesthetic more than a specialization. We do murals as much as videos, keeping the same genuinely playful approach towards the final product. Since we try to build everything by hand, it brings a human touch to each project, no matter the end result.”

This is a key motive in the urban art scene surrounding Montreal and this 'human touch' is something I want my publication to express.