New design agency Makemake launches in Chur

It is not easy for young creative talents to find good and fairly paid employment in a peripheral region, the agency writes in a statement. This was also the experience of Tanja Pichler, a budding communications designer, who was looking for a way to do things better.

With the support of Fabio Aresu, business manager of Markenkern, she has set up the Chur-based agency Makemake. The aim of the agency is to give young local creatives an opportunity to apply the knowledge they have gained in their studies to real-life practical projects and to be paid fairly in the process.

Fresh knowledge put into practice 

"What we offer our customers is already being very well received," co-founder Tanja Pichler was quoted as saying in a statement. "We bring current knowledge and fresh ideas from our studies and use them for our customers." In doing so, she believes that good design can be scaled at will. At Makemake, low budget therefore does not automatically mean 08/15 - the collective wants to show that things can be done differently. The name Makemake is an allusion to the dwarf planet Makemake outside the orbit of Neptune. Thus, the agency is a small, new planet in Graubünden's creative orbit and a place for learning and trying things out, the statement continues.

Start-up support from established partners 

For projects that require more comprehensive expertise, Makemake can call on the support of established partners in the fields of marketing, branding, communications, web design and digital business engineering. In particular, co-initiator Fabio Aresu with his agency Markenkern supports Makemake: "We want to give an exciting startup the initial help it needs to try something new. Makemake works independently of Markenkern in terms of content, but can draw on our entire back office and organizational know-how."

By 2023, the young company should stand completely on its own feet. Students and prospective students in the design field can apply for the collective.