ABOUT THE FOUNDERChris Unwin brings pattern recognition, aesthetic sense and business acumen from two decades in cultural marketing.
I got into this work because I saw something coming before it had a name. In 2013, while everyone was still debating whether the internet was good for culture, I was building the infrastructure for what we'd eventually call the creator economy — a community-powered media platform, a 6,500 square foot creator incubator in Toronto, a feature documentary acquired by Red Bull and licensed by Air Canada. Not because I had a thesis about where the market was going. Because I believed in the people building it, and I wanted to make the conditions right for the work to matter.
That instinct — identify the shift before the category catches up, build the infrastructure to meet it — is what brought me to the WellBeing space. The parallels are exact. A generation of founders building something genuinely new, largely without the tools or frameworks the work actually requires. A cultural moment that most of the industry is still describing rather than metabolizing. And at the center of it all, the same fundamental truth: the companies that will lead this space are the ones that understand they are in the business of making people feel something. Everything else is downstream of that.
What I bring to this work isn't a methodology. It's two decades of embodied understanding about how conviction becomes culture, how culture becomes community, and how community becomes the most powerful commercial force available to a company that knows how to build it. I've done this before at scale — with Canon, Red Bull, Ford, Sony, and the 14,000 creators who called Free Space home. Freehand is the distillation of everything that came before it, applied to the space I believe is doing the most interesting work of this era.
I work with a small number of companies at a time. The depth of investment I bring isn't compatible with volume. If you're building something real in the WellBeing space and you want a partner who will go inside the company and build from there — reach out.
Chris Unwin is the founder of Freehand, a WellBeing venture studio that advises, co-builds, and invests in the hospitality and real estate companies leading the shift toward spaces and experiences that restore the human experience. He has spent two decades at the intersection of culture, brand, and creative commerce, identifying structural shifts before the category catches up and building the infrastructure to meet them. He founded Free Agency, a creator-powered creative agency that became Canon's content partner for eight years, with long-term relationships across Ford, Sony, Red Bull, Microsoft, and MTV. Alongside it, he built The Creator Class — a community-powered media platform that reached 260,000 followers and 15 million global impressions, recognized by Fast Company, Highsnobiety, Hypebeast, and Dazed — and Free Space, a 6,500 square foot creator incubator in Toronto that became a landmark for a generation of cultural practitioners. He produced A Kid from Somewhere, a feature documentary acquired by Red Bull Media House and licensed by Air Canada. He is now based in Mexico City, where he runs Freehand.
Past Clients
CANON
MTV
FORD
SONY
MICROSOFT
RED BULL
Coverage
BOOOOOOOM
FAST COMPANY
MTV
DAZED
HIGH SNOBIETY
NOWNESS
DEZEEN
HYPEBEAST
REFINERY 29
2015 - 2020
Executive Director, Free Space
Founded and built a 6,500 sqft. creator incubator in the heart of Toronto's cultural core that led a formative period in media and culture.
Gallery, co-work, and event and exhibition space
Community of 14,000 creators
Featured Virgil Abloh, Drake, Alex Strohl
5 year partnership with Canon Creator Lab
2013- 2020
Chief Executive, Free Agency
Founded and built a creator-powered creative agency operating as the content engine behind AAA brands — through community-first thinking rather than conventional agency models.
Long-term partnerships with Canon, Red Bull, Ford, Sony, Microsoft, and MTV
Built on a community-first model — cultural relevance as the primary growth engine
Operated across brand strategy, content, creative direction, and partnerships
2015 - 2020
Executive Producer, The Creator Class
Founded and built a community-powered media platform growing a global audience and fostering multi-year corporate partnerships with AAA brands.
15+ Million Global Impressions
260,000 Instagram followers
70,000 YouTube subscribers
Corporate partnerships w/ Canon, Red Bull, Top Shop, etc.
Recognized by Fast Company, Highsnobiety, Hypebeast, Dazed, Nowness, and Booooooom
2017
Executive Producer, A Kid from Somewhere
Produced and sold a full length feature doc following three young creatives navigating the reality of building a life from their art.
Independent Feature — Toronto International Film Festival
Acquired by Red Bull Media House for global distribution
Licensed by Air Canada for in-flight programming