In conversation with Marie about Studio Camour
The Interview
Every brand begins somewhere. Where did Studio Camour begin for you?
With Chilli. When she came into my life, she became part of every moment. The small routines, the big decisions, the way I move through the world. Almost like an extension of myself. And somewhere in that everyday life, a quiet frustration began to grow. I could not find pieces that served us both. The beautiful ones asked her to give something up. The practical ones never felt like mine. Every collar, every leash made me choose between her comfort and my taste. At some point I stopped accepting that this was the choice.
What role did Milan play?
Milan treats its dogs like royalty. They are welcome in nearly every restaurant, and more than welcome, they are celebrated. There are parks made for them, water bowls outside the cafés and shops, and someone with a treat ready wherever you go. The city is built with dogs in mind, and it gives them the care and the style it brings to everything else. That resonated deeply with me. I have always seen Chilli as family, not as something I own, but as someone I share my life with, in every real sense of the word. Milan was the first city that saw her the same way. Living there, I understood that refusing to choose was not too much to ask. And I understood something else: I was far from alone in wanting this. Milan also shaped how I think about making things. There is a way of working that runs through European craft, a belief that quality takes time and that excellence is built slowly, across generations. That conviction is in every piece we make.
Where does the name Camour come from?
From two simple words. Canine, and amour. Dog, and love. Camour is a word we created for a feeling that did not have one yet. Not only the love we hold for them, but the love that runs both ways, quiet and unmistakable to anyone who has felt it. Studio is where that feeling takes form. A place where every piece is made with the bond in mind.
"Designed for two" is at the centre of everything. What does it mean in practice?
Take the leather. A companion cannot weigh craftsmanship or consider a colour. The person does that. The pieces are theirs and ours at the same time, worn by one, chosen and held by the other. So every decision has to be made twice over. For smaller companions we chose a smooth, soft calf leather, because on a smaller frame every gram of weight and every detail of fit is felt. For larger companions we chose a vegetable tanned full grain leather, dense and strong, that deepens in character with every year. Each choice answers the one who wears it and the one who chooses it. Comfort and security on one side. Beauty and quality on the other. Neither is asked to come second.
Discover more about our Philosophy
Accessories for the human and the dog, as one idea. What was the vision behind that?
I wanted pieces with a design language of their own. Recognisable, with a clear signature, and at the same time elegant and quiet enough to live in the everyday. Something you would choose the way you choose anything you keep close: for its design, its material, the way it feels in your hand. And from the beginning, that meant designing for both. Every piece is an accessory for the human and the dog at once. It is worn by one and carried, held and lived with by the other, so it has to hold its own on both sides.
The second decision was just as important to me: these pieces are for everyone. We design them so that anyone can wear and carry them, whoever they are. No version for her and version for him. One design, made to feel right in any hand, beside any companion.
You developed your own hardware rather than choosing from a catalogue. Most young brands would not. Why?
Because that design language existed nowhere but in my head. Most hardware is chosen from a catalogue, and there is nothing wrong with that. Many beautiful things are made this way. But we had a clear vision of how every detail should look and feel, from the proportions of a buckle to the way a clasp opens, and the only way to hold that vision with consistency, across every piece, was to design it ourselves. So every hook, every buckle, every plate is ours, developed from the ground up, in solid brass, held to the same standard as the leather it meets. When you pick up a piece, the design speaks one language from end to end. That was the point.
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The first collection is called the Kindred Collection. How did you decide what belongs in it?
I started with what Chilli and I actually share every day. For her, that is her harness, her leash, and a small crossbody bag we wore on every walk. For other companions it is the collar. So the collection had to cover exactly that shared everyday.
What mattered deeply to me was adapting each piece to the dog who wears it. Smaller and larger breeds have fundamentally different needs, in weight, in fit, in the leather itself. But why should they not share the same design language? So the design remains, from the smallest companion to the largest, and the material and the construction adapt to what each size asks for.
And I wanted the collection to dress our everyday life. Built to be worn and used daily, on the ordinary walks and the rushed mornings, and at the same time special enough for the occasions that ask for a little more. And then there is the Arc, our walking bag, which is the first piece made entirely for the person. Sometimes designed for two means the piece is simply for you.
Explore the Kindred Collection
Where is Studio Camour going?
Further than products. We start with the everyday pieces a companion and their person share, but the intention reaches beyond them. In time, I hope Studio Camour becomes a world built around this bond. Pieces, of course, but also spaces and experiences that bring people and their companions together. Real, unguarded connection has become rare, and the one between a person and their companion is among its most honest forms. That is worth honouring. And worth building a world around.
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