Our story

I asked AI about my past life. It explained a lot.

A full-time job, a stray cat, and — apparently — a previous career as a surreal mid-century artist. Here's how Moroyal happened.

An AI painting of Ping as a mid-century avant-garde artist with a black cat — Me, allegedly. A previous one.

Ping today — star cap and round glasses, on the lawn — Me. This life.

By day, I have an ordinary job and a cat who has never once agreed to come indoors.

On a whim, I asked an AI to show me my past life. It came back with this: a surreal, mid-century avant-garde artist — sharp glasses, a martini, a black cat who clearly ran the household. I laughed. Then I looked closer.

An AI painting of Ping in plaid and a rose cap, in a mid-century room with a black cat — Me, somewhere in the 1950s. Evidently.

Ping last spring — rose cap, red plaid wrap, in a field — Me. Last spring.

Same caps. Same glasses. The same unbothered expression. And in every version — the same black cat.

Here's the part that got me. For eight years I've quietly fed a stray in my yard. Same flat stare, same refusal to be held. I'm not saying she and I have done this before. I'm just saying the paintings came with a cat, and so do I. (Her real story is here.)

Past life or not, here's what I actually do: I turn the ones I love into something I can hold. A relief for the wall. A figure for the desk. Something to keep, when keeping is all you've got. I say design on purpose. A tool can turn a photo into a relief — that part's easy. The design is everything after: the composition, the frame, the way it becomes something you'd actually keep. That part is mine, and you won't find it anywhere else. Then I make it by hand, and send you a proof before anything's printed.

The Moroyal workshop bench — hand-painted pet reliefs, a figurine, brushes and paints — The bench, mid-batch. All designed and made here.

And because making something by hand is half the joy — the joy that started this whole thing — I'll hand you the tools to make your own, too. Keepsakes by my hand, or by yours.

Because here's the thing: everyone carries moments they'd give anything to keep. The pet who grew old beside you. Someone who's gone but never really left. An ordinary day you'd fold up and pocket if you could. That's why Moroyal exists — to help you hold onto those moments, whether we make the keepsake for you or you make it by hand yourself. A fleeting moment, made to last.

— Ping, Founder
Moroyal · A handmade memory workshop · St. Thomas, Ontario
(and, allegedly, a reincarnated avant-garde artist)

Your turn

Turn your photo into something you can hold.

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