Andy Stalman & Graham Purnell
From Buenos Aires and Liverpool — two people who barely crossed paths at the same agency, who left almost simultaneously, and who found each other again through a shared conviction. Since 2017, they have led TOTEM across 40+ countries and 490+ projects. Their mission has never changed.
Meet the Co-Founders
Co-Founder & CEO
Andy grew up in Buenos Aires, where he studied journalism and international relations. His path into branding was never a deliberate plan — it was the natural destination for someone who always believed that business is, at its core, a human matter.
With more than 30 years of experience on five continents, Andy connects the visual and the verbal — giving coherence, meaning and voice to what a brand does and, more importantly, why it exists. He is also a sought-after international speaker.
Books: BrandOffOn · HumanOffOn · TOTEM: Transforming Customers into Believers.
Co-Founder & Creative Director
Originally from Liverpool, UK, Graham has called Australia home since he was young and is currently based in Melbourne. His career has always been rooted in design, visual identity and creative direction — 25 years of experience across Europe, the Americas and Asia.
Graham leads TOTEM’s global creative team, responsible for the visual language, brand systems and creative direction of every project. His focus: ideas that succeed through simplicity, contrast and genuine business effectiveness.
What distinguishes Graham is the combination of real intelligence and genuine humility that lets him lead distributed international teams without ego.
Chief Operating Officer
Originally from Extremadura, Spain, Gema joined TOTEM in its earliest days — starting in operations and administrative support, and growing alongside the company into her current role as Chief Operating Officer.
Her journey is one of TOTEM’s most telling stories: built through effort, commitment and a quiet determination to make every project, every process and every client relationship work. With 20+ years of experience and 400+ projects across five continents, she is a fundamental pillar of everything TOTEM delivers.
Gema is the operational backbone that turns Andy and Graham’s vision into reality — and the reason TOTEM runs as well as it thinks.
How TOTEM Began
Andy and Graham’s partnership was not the result of a business plan. It was a coincidence that became a conviction.
They had worked at the same agency at the same time, though their paths rarely crossed. Andy left first, drawn to the belief that there was a more human, more meaningful way to build brands. Graham followed, almost simultaneously, moved by the same instinct. When a mutual colleague mentioned that Graham — one of the most talented designers anyone had worked with — had also moved on, Andy reached out.
They started with small projects. No grand launch, no external funding. Just the work, done well, with care. Gema, who had been part of that same world, brought the operational discipline that transformed good work into a sustainable practice.
Project by project, client by client, it grew into what TOTEM is today: 490+ projects across 40+ countries, from Europe to Latin America to Australia, built on the values all three brought to that first collaboration.
“Building brands
that unite people.”
TOTEM was built on the belief that branding, done right, is not just a business tool: it is a force for connection. That is what Andy, Graham and Gema have spent their careers proving — one brand at a time, across cultures, continents and industries.
Their approach is global. Their thinking is always local. And their purpose — the one that has guided every decision since TOTEM began — remains the same.
Ready to work with Andy, Graham, Gema and the TOTEM team?
