Tidal Studios: Brighton's Visual Content Powerhouse

Tidal Studios occupies a converted Victorian warehouse on Brighton's seafront, a few streets back from the pebbled beach and close enough to the sea that the light shifts noticeably through the studio windows depending on the tide. Founded in 2016 by photographer and creative director Maren Cole, the company began as a small commercial photography practice and has since grown into a full-service visual content studio serving clients across fashion, hospitality, food and drink, architecture, and lifestyle branding.

The studio now employs around 45 people, a mix of photographers, retouchers, motion designers, graphic designers, art directors, and producers. Their work spans campaign shoots, lookbooks, packaging design, social content, and short-form video. Clients range from independent Brighton restaurants to international hotel groups, with a growing roster of direct-to-consumer brands seeking a distinctive visual identity that doesn't feel templated or overproduced.

Origins and Philosophy

Maren Cole started Tidal Studios after a decade shooting editorially for magazines in London. She grew frustrated with the disconnect between the creative ambition of editorial work and the often rigid expectations of commercial clients. Her idea was simple: build a studio where commercial photography could be treated with the same care, spontaneity, and visual intelligence as the best editorial work. The name was a nod to Brighton's coastal setting and to the idea that visual culture moves in cycles, always returning to authenticity.

"We never wanted to be a content factory. Every brief is different, every brand has its own rhythm, and our job is to find that rhythm and make it visible."
— Maren Cole, Founder and Creative Director

That founding instinct still shapes how Tidal Studios operates. Projects are run by small, cross-functional teams rather than large departments. A photographer, a designer, a producer, and sometimes a stylist or motion specialist will work closely from the initial concept through to final delivery. This keeps decision-making fast and ensures creative consistency across every touchpoint of a campaign.

The Work

Tidal Studios is best known for its clean, atmospheric photography style, characterised by natural light, muted colour palettes, and compositions that feel lived-in rather than staged. Their food photography for a Sussex-based organic bakery earned them a D&AD Pencil nomination in 2021, and their ongoing work with a Scandinavian furniture brand has been widely shared across design blogs and social media.

In recent years, the studio has expanded significantly into motion and digital design. A dedicated motion team handles everything from social reels to full brand films, while the design team produces packaging, brand guidelines, and digital assets that extend the visual language established in a shoot. This integrated approach is a key differentiator. Rather than handing off photography to one agency and design to another, clients get a single cohesive vision from one team.

Recent Projects

Among the studio's more notable recent projects is a complete rebrand for a boutique hotel chain along the south coast, encompassing photography, signage design, website art direction, and a short brand film. The project took eight months and involved close collaboration between Tidal's in-house team and the hotel group's own marketing staff. The result was a visual identity that felt rooted in the specific character of each location rather than imposing a uniform look.

Another significant piece of work was a seasonal campaign for a London-based fashion label, shot entirely on location in Brighton. The campaign leaned into the city's rough textures and faded seaside palette, producing imagery that stood out against the polished studio aesthetics dominating that market at the time.

Culture and Working Environment

Tidal Studios operates out of three floors of their warehouse space. The ground floor houses two fully equipped photography studios with high ceilings and controllable natural light. The upper floors are open-plan workspaces for the design, motion, and production teams, with a shared kitchen and a quiet room for focused work. The atmosphere is calm and deliberate. People tend to speak carefully about their craft, and there is a genuine culture of feedback and peer review that avoids both harshness and empty praise.

Working hours are relatively standard for the creative industry, though shoots can run long and deadlines occasionally demand evening work. The studio offers flexible start times, a four-day week trial that has been in place since early 2024, and regular access to external workshops and training. Staff are encouraged to pursue personal creative projects, and the studio hosts a quarterly open evening where employees can exhibit or screen their own work.

Growth and What Comes Next

Tidal Studios is currently in a period of measured growth. They have recently signed several long-term retainer contracts with brands that need ongoing content rather than one-off campaigns, which has created a need for additional designers, retouchers, and motion specialists. There is also a growing interest in experiential work, with early conversations about producing visual installations for retail and hospitality spaces.

Despite this expansion, the studio is deliberate about maintaining its culture. Maren Cole has spoken publicly about her reluctance to scale beyond a point where she no longer knows every person on the team by name. Hiring is slow and considered. New team members are typically brought in on a freelance trial before being offered permanent roles, and cultural fit is weighted as heavily as portfolio strength.

For anyone drawn to visual storytelling, considered design, and a working environment shaped by craft rather than volume, Tidal Studios represents something increasingly rare: a commercially successful creative business that has not traded its identity for growth.