About
The best work is a collaboration.
We're Istari Creative, a two-person studio: we are analytical, strategic, and invested in the businesses we work with. In Tolkien's world, the Istari were the guides, the ones who showed up and helped others find what they were already capable of. We liked that, because it's what we do too. And it's what good collaboration looks like.
We find what's good in a business and build everything around it, so growth makes you more like yourself.
Co-Founder
Andrea Kendall
Marketing Strategy · Creative Direction · Art
Andrea has spent over 20 years running marketing for brands across every stage and sector, startups, established companies, nonprofits, and everything in between. Her approach is practical and results-driven, but she brings a creative instinct to everything she touches that most marketers simply don't have.
That instinct comes from somewhere real. Andrea is also a working painter, and the same eye she brings to her studio practice, finding what's true, what's specific, what's underneath the surface, is exactly what she brings to your brand.
Co-Founder
David Norman
Writing · Illustration · Photography
David is a writer, illustrator, photographer, and educator who found his way into marketing the same way most good things happen, by following what he was already good at. He has a rare ability to take something complicated and make it feel simple, which turns out to be exactly what most brands need.
At Istari, David is the strategist, the storyteller, and usually the first one to figure out what a brand is actually trying to say. He's been a creative his whole life, and that's what lets him see what your brand could be before others do.
The Studio
Our office is also a gallery.
We work out of a storefront studio in Fairhaven that doubles as a gallery and shop. Rotating shows from local artists, original paintings and prints, and a shop stocked with cards, stickers, and small-batch goods. If you're in the neighborhood, stop by.
Visit studioistari.com →Tell us what you're working on.
Get in Touch →Let's Chat!
We’d love to learn about what’s going on in your world.