Meet Andrew!
Art has been in Andrew’s veins since he can remember. Growing up around creatives. Andrew’s mother was infinitely crafty, and every school project was made by hand in the most creative ways as were many gifts throughout the years. Through her, Andrew learned the vastness and versatility of creativity. Andrew’s paternal Grandmother was a Tole painter and hobby carousel horse painter. She would encourage Andrew in his painting pursuits as a young boy, often supplying art materials for Christmas. Throughout his early years, Andrew would draw and paint as much as he could, but the real shift came late in High School, when Andrew got into oil painting and decided that he wished to go to college for Art. In college, Andrew studied painting, drawing and art history. His bachelor’s degree is in art with a minor in art history. His entry into the art materials industry felt natural.
Andrew entered the industry as a young artist looking for part time retail work fresh out of college. He soon found a home and in no time was managing stores. For the first eight years of his career, he managed Utrecht and then Blick stores throughout California; in Sacramento, Southern California and the Bay Area. It was this retail experience where Andrew developed his awareness and knowledge of art materials. He would frequently engage in conversation with artists about their passions and curiosities. If they had questions that could not be answered, Andrew would research to discover the answers, materials and processes that could help them. This would often lead down rabbit holes of him looking deeper than ever at books, blogs, other artists, and even calling manufacturers to discuss questions.
While managing a store in the California Bay Area he was recognized by Maureen Labro of Savoir-Faire, and he turned towards the wholesale distribution side of the industry, working closely with Pierre Guidetti in supporting Sennelier, Fabriano, Raphael, Isabey, Cretacolor, Lascaux, Artfix, Awagami, LamaLi & Charbonnel through sales and education. Pierre took Andrew under his wing and mentored him on the intricacies of the art materials wholesale business, while at the same time, supporting Andrew’s desire to work and interact with artists. For Savoir-Faire, Andrew was able to be an account manager and support key account customers and grow sales but was also the Director of Education for the company, planning and executing consumer shows and trade shows, working with ambassadors and influencers, and providing product training and demonstrations to retailers, end-users and wholesale distributor sales teams.
In 2020, when MacPherson’s acquired Savoir-Faire, Andrew narrowed his sights on education, and began supporting MacPherson’s stable of exclusive brands, which included the brands from Savoir-Faire. Andrew developed an education program for many of the exclusive brands, through a plethora of consumer events, retail training and demonstration visits, and virtual events, the program took shape. Andrew worked with some of the most renowned artists in the world to develop a team of ambassadors for several brands, supporting a shared vision of ensuring that artists have access to the highest quality of materials to make their dreams become reality.
With these years of experience under his belt, Andrew is now able to color outside the lines, he is supporting select brands in realizing their visions, whether they are looking for simple advice, or a full-blown strategy to grow their brand.
Reach out to see how your brand vision can become its own work of art.