Margherita Porrà, founder and creative director of arithmetic and award-winning designer, is celebrated for her innate talent in synthesizing the unspoken feeling needs of humans, their behaviours, and the market data into an aesthetic harmony, which resonates and creates change. She is equal parts analytical and creative, thriving in the ambiguity of paradoxes and opposites. Her work is expansive in thought and concept, deep in research and connection—evoking the emotion we crave. Highly discerning, Margherita's work is rich in meaning-making through storytelling—actioning the knowledge that our brains recognize and celebrating memorable stories—the most memorable ones being authentic.

She is a driving thought leader in the human-centric branding process where human and soul-based needs come first (where people are not abstracted to simply “consumer” and relegated to data points), connecting human feelings to the outward expression of a brand, stripping away the clutter of marketing jargon to create an offering which is rich in honesty and emotion. It is her belief that once we can connect as humans, we have a chance to engage each others' help in healing our Earth. Margherita has spent her design career deeply aware of dwindling resources, feeling it in her bones and in a panic for change. Margherita leads the arithmetic team in investing in research for alternative packaging materiality and manufacturing partners, continually asking the uncomfortable questions, and changing personal behaviour to understand what is involved in order to incite change in others. By extension, and in action, Margherita is actively redefining what the luxury category is. In her vision, the New Luxury is sustainable, inclusive, values-led with many independent businesses making quality goods with time and care. It is wellness. It is craft. It is honest. It will have a disregard for the overpriced mass-manufactured and over-marketed category that is unattainable and lacks true authenticity. The New Luxury swaps exclusivity for connection.

Following her formal education in graphic design and international business, graduating with honours, Margherita launched her design career in the intensity of the fashion industry. She brought her artistic vision to life through the design of hundreds of products from shoes to textile design to homewares sold worldwide for both leading Canadian and American fashion brands; all the while, honing a keen production sensibility while working hands-on with skilled artisans. With extensive design experience in consumer goods categories, Margherita has worked on everything from brand vision and strategy, identity, packaging, retail interior, and product design. She has over 20 years of industry experience designing for retail-focused product producers, with a focus on health, food, wellness, and fashion, in the luxury market. Inspired by her own health issues, her personal passion for healing through a plant-based diet, paired with her refined taste, has fuelled her work in the health, food, and wellness categories with great success in breaking convention in stale markets.

Over the past 21 years, Margherita has received numerous design awards, including 38 awards in the past 9 years. She is the recipient of 3 Pentawards, an inaugural Dieline Sustainability Award, the AACE Award, and the award for Canadian Design Exchange Emerging Graphic Designer of the Year. Her design work has been published countless times in The Dieline, Taschen’s The Package Design Book, Victionary, Applied Arts Magazine, IDN Magazine, Wallpaper Magazine, and Pattern-Base Book, to name a few.

At first meeting, it is clear that Sydney’s personal passion for the culture of design is woven into the fabric of her being and forms the lens to the belief that culture connects. Her personal, eclectic interests, span from vastly different sub-cultures and styles providing her a wealth of inspiration which manifests as a unique perspective in her design work.

It is in the rhythm of culture in which Sydney finds unique pockets of inspiration—particularly through experimental artists and fashion styling, Japanese film scores, and a connection of design eras. Music’s nuances and stories are incredible sources of visual inspiration and are amazing examples of how mood can be conveyed both simply, or complexly layered in art and design, and incorporated into culture-inspiring fashion.

With a strong foundation in the Fine Arts, Sydney established her passion for creation. Her intrinsic abilities and interest in the art world led her into a deep love for ancient and classical art history and archaeology. She is equal parts inspired by ancient works of art and experimental design—two polar opposites which she feel can beautifully illustrate the common threads in our world and human experience and which she finds equally delightful in their obvious contrast.

These creations and civilizations of the past, and the contrast found in their art, heavily influence her personal design work. As she sees it, classical artwork is like a metaphor that expresses how she can approach design. The story and its meaning are laid down first—a vessel for conveying a theme or emotion—amplified by layers of revision, artistic development, and emotive language—in the end producing a piece that is both communicative and interesting.

Highly empathetic and in-tune, Sydney has a unique ability to synthesize her life moments with the human experience into designs, copywriting and brand messaging which is sensitive, heart felt, and connects humans to humans in a heart-led experience.

Sydney is the recipient of a handful of design awards and honourable mentions, including: Winner 2020 Applied Arts Student Awards for Entire Design Program—Campaign, Silver Winner/Finalist 2020 ADCC Student Awards Project, Honourable Mention 2020 RGD Student Awards Bell Media Award for Typography (Digital), Honourable Mention 2020 RGD Student Awards, 52 Pick-Up Inc. Award for Typography (Digital). Her high standard for academic achievement and learning landed her on the Dean’s List for the breadth of her university career, and valedictorian.

Exceptionally quick to catch a vision and eager to carry it to fruition. Brooke Rosales is an interdisciplinary problem solver. She believes design is essentially experiential, connecting humans through time and space.

Raised on the prairies, innately connected to the Earth and steeped in traditional craft, Brooke has always fostered an intimate relationship with nature. She holds a deep reverence for the innovation and knowledge that nature offers and aspires for partnership with nature through stewardship of our Earth. This compels her to a perpetual pursuit of balance and growth in every facet of her being.

With a career originating in museums and galleries, she draws inspiration from the rich variegation of history, harnessing the past in pursuit of meaningful innovation. The profound stories that unfold from archaeological and fine art artifacts hold significant inspiration for Brooke. Spending over a decade immersed in the intersection of Fine Art, Craft, and Design equipped her with an intuitive ability to forecast trends. She has dedicated her comprehensive career to partnering with boutique businesses in order to bring their vision to maturity, building an incredibly broad vocabulary of visual language.

Brooke holds a Bachelor of Design with distinction from Alberta University of the Arts, with a formative year spent in the United Kingdom at Falmouth Arts University. Her education is a testament to her relentless pursuit of excellence and devotion to unceasingly expanding her perspectives.