Siena Hutchinson is the founder and creative director of Hutch & Co, a London branding and website design agency working with lifestyle and culture-led businesses. A fashion design graduate with a master’s in graphic design, she began working for herself at 21 and incorporated the agency in March 2022.
On 29 September 2026 she was the featured voice in a Talent Times debate on whether creator-founded brands should mirror the creators behind them, drawing on the agency’s work for Agende, the planner business founded by Isobel Lorna. She tells Business Matters why strategy sits at the start of every project, and why she wishes she had learned to let go sooner.
What do you currently do at Hutch & Co?
I am the founder and Creative Director of Hutch & Co., a branding and website design agency helping ambitious brands define who they are and how they show up.
My role is quite varied, which is probably one of the things I love most about running an agency. I lead the creative direction and strategy across our projects, work closely with clients and oversee the wider direction of the business. We work across branding, websites and digital, predominantly with lifestyle and culture-led businesses.
As the agency has grown, my role has naturally started shifting too. I am learning to spend less time being the person doing everything and more time thinking about where the business is going, how we grow sustainably and what Hutch & Co. should look like in the future.
What was the inspiration behind your business?
I do not think there was ever one big moment where I decided, “I am going to start an agency.” It happened much more organically.
I have always been creative and studied Fashion Design before going on to do a Master’s in Graphic Design. I started working for myself at 21, initially taking on freelance design projects and running an online print shop. Over time, the freelance side grew, the projects became bigger and I realised I was much more interested in building brands as a whole than simply designing individual assets.
Hutch & Co. really grew from that. I wanted to build the kind of creative agency I would want to work with: collaborative, commercially aware and genuinely invested in understanding the business behind the brand.
I have always been fascinated by the point where creativity and business meet, because beautiful design is important, but the best branding has a reason behind every decision.
How do you approach brands built around a creator?
When we work with creator-founded businesses at Hutch & Co., I always think about the brand beyond launch day. Should the brand simply look and feel like the creator behind it? Not entirely.
When we built the brand for Agende, Isobel Lorna’s planner business, we chose to give it an identity of its own rather than replicate her existing aesthetic. I believe in a middle ground, where the brand feels unmistakably connected to the creator but can stand on its own, separate from their personal social media presence.
Who do you admire?
I am particularly drawn to people who have built businesses with a really strong point of view. Founders who understand that the brand itself can be just as valuable as the product or service they are selling.
I also admire people who are willing to build differently rather than automatically following the traditional blueprint of what a successful business is supposed to look like. Running my own business has made me realise there are so many different definitions of success. I am increasingly inspired by founders who create businesses that are commercially successful but also work for the life they actually want to live.
More broadly, I am constantly inspired by the people around me. Other founders, creatives and even our clients teach me a huge amount. When you work closely with people building businesses from scratch, you get a front-row seat to how differently people think, take risks and solve problems.
Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?
I would have learned to let go sooner. For a long time, I thought being good at running a creative business meant being involved in absolutely everything. When your business starts with you, your skills and your reputation, handing any part of it to someone else can feel incredibly difficult.
But there comes a point where being involved in every detail actually becomes the thing holding the business back. I probably would have put systems in place earlier, asked for help sooner and become more comfortable with the idea that someone else can do something differently to me without doing it badly.
What defines your way of doing business?
Clarity, collaboration and being genuinely invested in the businesses we work with.
One of the biggest things I have learned through branding companies is that design should not exist in isolation. Before we start thinking about a logo, typography or colour palette, I want to understand where the business is going, who it needs to speak to and what it needs to be known for.
That is why strategy sits at the beginning of everything we do at Hutch & Co. I want our clients to come away with more than a beautiful brand. I want them to understand their business more clearly and have something that can genuinely support where they want to go next.
I also believe in making the process collaborative. Some of our services include live design sessions where clients are part of the process rather than disappearing for weeks and being presented with a finished answer. I think the strongest work happens when you combine our expertise with the founder’s knowledge of their own business.
What advice would you give to someone starting out?
Start before you feel ready.
I think one of the biggest misconceptions about starting a business is that everyone else has some kind of master plan. I certainly did not. So much of building Hutch & Co. has been trying something, learning from it, changing it and trying again.
I would also tell people not to obsess over looking bigger or more established than they are. Particularly in the creative industries, there can be a temptation to make yourself look like a huge agency from day one. There is actually a huge advantage in being small. You can move quickly, build close relationships with clients and figure out what you want your business to become without carrying lots of overhead.
And finally, learn about the business side as much as the thing you are selling. Being a great designer did not automatically make me good at pricing, sales, contracts, hiring, managing cash flow or leading a team. Those have all been skills I have had to learn along the way. In many ways, they are the skills that determine whether you can turn something you love doing into a sustainable business.
