A Brand Studio Built on Kinship, Collaboration, & Craft

Our story

Hewn originated from a kind of kinship — two fellows whose mutual admiration deepened into friendship, and then into partnership.

Boswell had turned a twenty-year barbering career into Best Barber, a thriving NYC brand, and along the way found that his real gift was business and relationship-building. When he moved to Maine in 2022, putting that gift to work for fellow entrepreneurs became a clear calling.

Michael, an award-winning art director and graphic designer, had been his client and friend for years. So when Boswell needed a hand-drawn wordmark for a branding project, Michael was the natural call—and, in typical fashion, he delivered more than was asked: not just the wordmark, but a logo that was a revelation.

One night at the pub, upon completing the project, Michael said, "We should do this. Together." In that moment, two dreams aligned, and HEWN was born.

A process board of creating our own brand

Building with Intention

We pride ourselves on creating work that helps our clients stand out and stands the test of time. Our clients are our creative partners in a truly collaborative process. We balance strategy, creativity, and heart to bring ideas to life. We apply our craft to each project's raw materials to communicate who they are accurately and effectively, achieving their objective. Every client gives us an opportunity to discover, grow, and build something unique and lasting.

Meet the partners

Bookends of the branding spectrum. For over a decade, Boswell has methodically cultivated one brand for a single business. On the other end, Michael has consistently built and maintained brands for many businesses of all sizes.

Boswell

is a barber and entrepreneur with a sincere love of methodology and aesthetics.

In 2015, he founded Best Barber, an upscale barbershop in New York City, with the promise of Handsome Made Simple. Since moving to Norway, Maine, in 2021, he has grown deeply attached to the town and its community and is eager to contribute.

A barber for 25 years, he paired technical skill with a sincere interest in people and making them look and feel their best—earning him a devoted, long-standing following. He grew Best Barber into a trusted community space with a diverse clientele—anchored by a clear visual identity, visionary strategy, and a thoughtfully designed four-chair barbershop.

By building a remarkably steady team, a robust mesh of clearly communicated standards and systems that support them, he made operating, working at, or frequenting the shop a seamless experience. Boswell manages Best Barber—remotely—to this day.

That real-world experience underpins HEWN. What we build for our clients, Boswell first built for himself: a brand, a space, and a way of running a business that has sustained itself for over a decade. These are the skills he wants to offer to others.

At HEWN, Boswell leads business development, brand strategy, and messaging—defining a brand, positioning it uniquely, and clearly articulating what it says when it introduces itself. With a genuine affinity for structure, process, and method, he focuses on application—usability, efficiency, and automation.

Michael

is an artist, award-winning art director, and graphic designer with 15 years of experience—whose work spans brand identity, illustration, and advertising,

For the last decade, as an art director at one of the world’s largest financial institutions, Michael has navigated high demands, tight timelines, and the complexity and pace of a global organization—as well as competing visions across multiple departments—to ultimately arrive at design that makes everyone feel seen and proud.

What really drives him lies at the other end of the design world—he believes good design should not be reserved for giant companies with enormous budgets. He is committed to using his design expertise to help hardworking people and small businesses communicate who they are by making thoughtful, meaningful branding more attainable—work in service of community.

Michael loves picking up on the small, intrinsic details of someone’s story—the things that matter to them—and weaving those into a visual identity. Helping people show up in this world the way they want to be seen—and designing a brand a client can recognize themselves in—is his most rewarding pursuit.

Michael's work has earned five Graphic Design USA awards—of which he is most proud of the 2022 award for DEI Communication. As a disability advocate, Michael believes the things we create should be universally accessible.

At HEWN, Michael leads creative—unearthing the elements, creating by hand, and building brand identities with pride. He brings sincerity, understanding, and care to every step of the process, gently guiding each client to a revelatory destination.

What clients are saying:

“As a designer myself, I found their creative process took me to places I hadn’t imagined. I loved my logo so much that I want to get it tattooed on my arm. I recommend them to everyone I know.”

—Dane Charles, found