One Year of Calamori Designs
Believe it or not, this shop was almost called Squidheart. You see, the two of us are partners, and for oddly memorable reasons, salt and pepper calamari was involved on the day we started dating. When we started thinking about whether or not to start a small shop, we wanted to make sure it came from the heart. We thought of our relationship and with it... well… salt and pepper calamari. Combined with an anatomical heart, which is often drawn red and blue.
So our main mascot, Calamori, is a little and literal squid heart, always sincere and curious about the world. The rest of the Calamori Gang—Chowchow, Eepi and Foxi—are based on plushies we picked up as companions throughout our long distance relationship. The amor in Calamori Designs' logo is red for love. It's for the love between us as partners, our love for the stories we're creating, and love for the little things that connect strangers across the world.
We’re both creatives working on getting our own original stories out in the world, and like many others, can only do so outside of our 9-to-5’s and life responsibilities. So the thought of launching a merch store on top of those was daunting, to say the least. There were definitely moments where, already struggling to find time for our main projects, we wondered if this little shop was worth it. And the answer is yes.
To create is to rebel in this day and age; we live in arguably one of the most critical times in history for creatives. But art persists and perseveres anyway. We continue to crave it and bask in it across various mediums. To us, the worlds from these experiences are born the moment a connection is made between creator and the audience, and they hold the power to influence the world we navigate day to day.
Calamori was born from transforming that dream into something practical. While we work on our novel and manga projects, fanworks not only help us hone our skills, but also give us a window to express ourselves when we aren’t ready to publish our stories just yet. We share our works online and through them, connected with you. But we realised it wasn’t enough to have our creations as something to scroll past, or even digitally commission for. We wanted the irreplaceable charm of tangible things, and to see that shared love for a piece of work take physical form—just like how we dream of our stories one day sitting on people’s physical shelves. We thought if only a few people felt they were better able to express their individuality with our products, that would be Calamori Designs’ mission accomplished.
So we opened shop on 12 June 2025, and couldn’t possibly have imagined all the support we would receive within a year. Somehow, we’re here with more than 150 orders, and over 250 subscribers. We genuinely thought we’d get 20! Total! We feel the love in your every order, and that connection is the most valuable and precious thing to us as creatives.
So thank you so much for being here—for ordering, browsing, sharing, and trusting us. Thank you for giving us confidence as creatives to keep on creating. Here’s to many more years of Calamori goodies!
