Brand shoot with Interior Designer, Sorcha of Design@Studio17
Sorcha, Interior Designer
The brief
Sorcha’s whole approach is built around the idea that a home should work as hard as it looks beautiful, designed around the light, the life and the people actually living in it. Sorcha wanted me to follow her through the last hour or two of the install, where a space stops being a construction site and starts being a home.
Sorcha booked me for a half day documenting the final touches on an open plan kitchen, living and dining space in Manchester.
What we photographed
Over the half day I got Sorcha properly at work, hammer in hand, hanging frames exactly where she’d planned them weeks before. Styling the space, adjusting textiles, stepping back to check sightlines, sorting the details most people don’t consciously notice but always feel.
Alongside those action shots, I built in quieter moments too, portraits of Sorcha as the calm, considered presence behind the finished rooms her clients fall in love with, and close-up detail shots of the textures she’d chosen: the weight of a throw, the weave of an upholstered chair, the layering that makes a scheme feel curated rather than just put together.
I also wanted the less visible side of the job, the thinking behind the styling. Sorcha at her laptop working through the finer points of the project, hands moving through swatches, holding tones up against the actual light in the room. It’s the part of the process clients rarely see, but it’s where a lot of the real decisions get made.
Why this matters for a brand like hers
Interior design is a visual, trust-led business, and the best brand photography for a designer doesn’t just show the finished rooms, it shows the person and the process behind them.
Sorcha’s clients aren’t just buying a beautiful room, they’re buying her eye, her judgement and the seamless experience she’s known for. A set of images that shows her working, thinking and styling in real time does far more for that trust thana portfolio shot on its own ever could.
Sorcha’s been featured in the press, works with clients across the UK and internationally, and quietly weaves sustainability and community work into everything she does, including her partnership with Standing Tall and the orphanage she supports in Uganda. The photography needed to feel as intentional and unhurried as her design process itself.
The result
A flexible set of images Sorcha can now use across her website, portfolio and social channels for months to come — action shots for authenticity,portraits for trust, and detail shots for the kind of storytelling that makes people stop scrolling and want to know more about the space, and the designer behind it.
To learn more about Sorcha you can check her work out or connect with her here: https://www.designatstudio17.co.uk/
or on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sorcha-drakeford/
I’m Zehra, and I run Portraya, personal brand photography for founders, designers and consultants across Manchester and Cheshire. If you’re launching something new, or just need a fresh set of images that actually look like you and your work, get in touch.