Case Study


The Island Studio: Lifestyle, Social Led Content for a London Reformer Studio


The Island Studio wasn't looking for content that looked like standard Pilates brands. They wanted content that looked like a lifestyle, one that happens to include Pilates.

Woman in red cap and black jacket carrying a cream tote bag with text while walking in a blurred motion.
Flat lay of white headphones, water bottle, ball, sunglasses, and gym equipment on a dark surface.
Muscular woman exercises on a Pilates reformer machine in a dramatic, shadow-lit studio setting.

The Brief


The Island Studio is an East London reformer brand. We worked across two half-day sessions, shooting at their Canary Wharf and Hackney Wick locations. The goal was an elevated social content library spanning stills and video. The brand document set the tone: calm, premium, social, natural. Neutral styling, elevated throughout. Alongside the formal brief, Sol (the founder) shared Instagram video references and a Pinterest board that included lifestyle moments and movement content with blur that read closer to run club campaigns than Pilates studio photography.


The visual language she was drawn to didn't belong to any single category. The references didn't sit neatly inside the Pilates niche.

The Approach


Both sessions followed the same basic structure: outdoor lifestyle, then into the studio. Both locations gave us the community and neighbourhood vibes that painted the lifestyle picture we wanted to share, but each also gave a slightly different feel, Canary Wharf is more modern and Hackney Wick a little more raw.


Across both days we worked with a rotating cast of talent, covering group class content, individual and small group movement, close up body and reformer details, and social media storylines. The visual references Sol brought shaped how we worked. Blur, movement, lifestyle framing. We shot with that language in mind.

Woman performing Pilates reformer exercise with medicine ball, wearing athletic wear and patterned socks in gym.
Women waiting outside The Island Pilates studio on a sunny day.
Three young women walking on a city sidewalk carrying bags and coffee cups near a brick building.

The Outcome


Across two sessions, we delivered 230+ stills, 30+ social-ready videos, and 30+ high-quality colour-graded clips. A complete and elevated social-media-first content library. Sol described the content as allowing the brand to communicate better, not just on social but across newsletters and general communication. The goal was content that fostered connection and conveyed genuine emotion.

In their own words


"I'm excited to build a long-term relationship and elevate the brand's visual communication. It's extremely important for me to trust the creative approach of the team I work with, and I trust Des to deliver work that feels elevated, refined, and aligned with the brand's vision."


— Sol, Founder, The Island Pilates

Woman in brown P.E athletic wear sits on a Merrithew Pilates reformer in a modern studio.
A white sphere resting in a sleek black metal stand on a dark textured surface with dramatic lighting.

If you're building a content library for your studio, get in touch.