Our Story
Duality by Design is an artist collective founded by a mother & daughter team Jennifer, Monica, and Alecia Cameron. We live and create in Ontario, Canada in two locations, Thunder Bay and Ottawa. This marketplace empowers artists within our collective to market and sell their creations and services online with complete control over the experience with none of the overhead or fees that large scale sites charge.
Jennifer’s Story (the mother)
I love creating beautiful things. I want to be surrounded with beautiful things and wonderful people whom I love. I also walk the path of minimalism and intentional-ism. The intersection of beauty and minimalism is simple, functional, beautiful, and intentional. This, for me, is Duality by Design.
Monica’s Story (the daughter)
When I was a little girl, I remember my mom made my sister and I both beautiful holiday stockings. They were charming and simple, adorned with an elegant initial for our names. The sweet curls around the mountains of my M made me smile every time we unpacked the holiday box on December 1st. My mom was always working on something new and creative. Through watching her, she passed to me her creative talent, from which my imagination bloomed. I never stopped writing, reading, drawing, creating, doing, or dreaming. As I progressed through childhood, it became clear that my family wasn’t the norm. Doesn’t everyone’s mom help sew Halloween costumes? Not everyone spends their weekends cutting and pasting Christmas gift tags? Shopping became a hobby, and the comfortable feeling of “homemade” felt further and further away over the years. It is said that we are all searching for something, but I think I know what it could be. We are searching for that cozy, warm feeling of homemade.
“This is made for me, this is unique and this is the embodiment of who I am and what I love.”
When my mom and I founded Duality by Design, I remembered “homemade”. I realized that I want to bring back the nostalgic repose of my homemade childhood, not only for myself but for my children…and the world. I want every one to feel the comfort of quality and uniqueness. I want every one else to smile when they decorate for the holidays because this is made for them.
Alecia’s Story (the daughter)
Ditto to my sister.
Well, to expand on my ditto, as the youngest in my family I always found myself imitating my cool older sister and my equally cool parents. Whether it was music, painting, sewing, crafts, baking, theater (ttrpg’s that is), or writing, we had it all! My childhood was shaped by the arts and it gave me a life long passion for creating. I started filling sketchbooks as a kid and continued my love for drawing into college as a student of animation. My time studying pushed me forwards as a creative and opened my eyes to so many more artistic passions. If I could spend every day creating and learning new crafts I would!
Joining Duality by Design is an opportunity for me to create alongside my family again and get my art out into the world while I expand my creative scope.