Irish Women in Business: Rachel Lane and Marie Dunne of Curious Design

For the latest in our series of editorials focusing on Irish Women in Business, we’re talking to Rachel Lane and Marie Dunne of Curious Design. Curious is a small Irish design company that provides a friendly, high quality and affordable design service to large and small companies, start-ups, creatives, not-for-profits organisations and individuals. They also design for events, print and the web, so whether you need a logo, a brochure, a website or a moodboard they can bring your idea to life. Here in her own words, Rachel describes how she and Marie met and how they came up with this great design company. _________________________________ We studied Graphic Design together in DLIADT over 10 years ago and became good friends. While in college we collaborated and helped each other on many projects and always wanted to take this collaborative process into the real world. We now work remotely (but together!) from home based studios in Dublin and Wicklow. Where did you find the inspiration for this company? We set up Curious Design in 2011 and our business has been growing, changing and evolving ever since. After a few years working in a design studio Marie decided to complete a Web Design course to compliment her Graphic Design Degree. As business grew, Rachel decided to join forces on a part time basis and Curious was born. What's your work ethos like? We are very flexible with how we work. Both of us have our own personal skill-sets, Marie is our web expert and Rachel is print mad. We share a similar design aesthetic and we create unique, clever designs for our clients. We try to use language that doesn't confuse and intimidate and we really like to get to know our clients - they often become good friends! Advice to people who want to take the leap and start their own company? Take the leap, you will never look back and regret trying something that you are passionate about - but you really do have to be passionate about it. There is no point working on an idea or business that you are only a little interested in. Working for yourself is amazing but it does involve long hours and hard work! Also If you can, try to work with someone. We have found working together great – we can bounce ideas off each other and solve problems together! Find out more about their company on their website here. Images via Curious