Creative Direction - telling our story
By Eden Parnell
As one of the Junior Designers at Sibley Grove, part of my job is helping curate the content for our Instagram account. I love this part of my job because I get to tell the stories of who we are as a Studio, and a collective of designers. As the Studio evolves, we’re embracing a more dynamic and creative strategy to better reflect who we are and how we think about design. While we remain committed to sharing educational and informative content, we also put a strong emphasis on creativity, storytelling and visual impact. We are after all a design studio.
Shaping our creative direction
As our Marketing lead says, the numbers don’t lie - like many Studios, we see Instagram reels and videos consistently outperform static posts in engagement. Our most successful content tends to include people, particularly when it’s us! Showcasing our team helps humanise our brand and makes us more approachable. If we start a new project or I meet a new supplier, I always want to check-out who I’m working with – people like people after all, and this insight has shaped a key part of our updated direction. We’re now starting to experiment with new formats too like short Q&As, topic-led interviews and playful, unexpected visuals. We want to craft moments that spark curiosity, make you smile and most importantly, make you stop scrolling.
By staging scenes that are quirky or unconventional, we create content that stands out and sticks in people’s minds. A washing line of fabric swatches drying in the sun? That’s us rethinking a simple palette post and turning it into a mini story. The goal is to be memorable and share some of our approaches to design.
So people can imagine themselves in the spaces we design
We’re also exploring the fascinating relationship between interiors and food styling, recognising how both disciplines share a love for composition, colour, texture and mood. From a tablecloth made from Pierre Frey fabric to drinks carefully placed on Mosa tiles, incorporating food and drink into our posts brings life and context to the finishes we love. It adds a layer of lifestyle storytelling that helps people imagine themselves in the spaces we design.
Some of our best-performing posts are surprisingly simple - like a reel showing the countryside around our Dartington Studio. These glimpses into our everyday environment seem to connect with people on a personal level. They’re quick to make, visually rich and feel authentic. By blending curated design content with behind-the-scenes moments, we are doing our best to strike a balance between polish and personality. It’s not just about what we do; it’s about how we live, our values and what inspires us as a collective of designers.
Circular design principles inspired by nature
One of our favourite new ideas is pairing interior elements with natural imagery. Circular design is at the heart of Sibley Grove’s ethos and the natural world inspires us to design with longevity in mind. Simple posts reflect this passion - a vibrant fabric swatch on one side, and a lush nature scene with matching tones and textures on the other. This kind of visual echo not only speaks to biophilic design principles but reminds our audience that inspiration is everywhere, from forest floors to fabric drawers!
If you’re following Sibley Grove on Instagram, you’ll start to see this creative evolution unfold. And if you’re not following us yet, now’s the perfect time to join us.