A photo-shoot is like whipping up a cake, a few ingredients to start with,
a bit of hard work and a beautiful presentation to show at the end. Et voila!
Behind the Scenes
Welcome to Part One: A Dragons Photoshoot. Here at Dragons we say, 'Inspiring Childhood Dreams' and it is at the heart of a photoshoot where we concoct a dream nursery with our luxury nursery furniture, or our child's bedroom or playroom with our children's furniture range.. This is part one of the blog because we capture the elements that are brought together in the planning stage. Everything leading up to a photoshoot is its own story. Keep reading to find out what we'll feature in part two.
The Brief
It’s easy to know what needs to be photographed if we have a new furniture design or collection, like our latest Juliet Travers collaboration of the Mural Wallpaper set, which is set to launch at Decorex next month. However sometimes when there isn't anything new we reinvent popular pieces. This is the best way to refresh our existing range. Our charming Dragons cot bed for example had been previously photographed and were brilliant lifestyle shots...
Later we did an exclusive Beatrix Potter artwork with a chic Moroccan twist and the Dragons Cot Bed, combined with warm tones, a sophisticated pelmet and luxury accessories, has new life in a modern era.
Stage One, Two, Three
Typically our Managing Director, Lucinda Croft will initiate the product focus to the interior designer who will then develop a concept. In parallel to this our Production Director, Bex organises a location ideal for the vision we want to create. If the location house gets the all thumbs up, it all passes back to the interior designer who can plan a layout, define the furniture list and pick accessories. We love to stir in a different flavour so we'll look to our friends in the industry and see what decorative rug we can use or perhaps we'll source some vintage-style prop suitcases.
"If we pick flowers for our photoshoot, we'll tie the colours in with the artwork"
~ Prima Patel, Interior Designer
Presentation is key
You may think we're talking about styling. Actually we are way too early before we can think of that. When we have an interior design project for a client, we always give them a presentation online to show them all the references; colour, artwork, bespoke furniture, soft furnishings - everything they can expect in their room. This is no different for our team of artists in our humble Sussex studio. So even our in house projects needs quality time and attention and this is the stage where everyone involved in the goal can draw the same shape.
VIPeople
Finally it's over to the people who whip it all together like our brilliant carpenters who produce our furniture, our artists who paint exquisite illustration and operations to manage what items travel with them in the van, from tools to cleaning products!
In amongst all the planning, the job that feels least chaotic is scouting adorable little princes and princesses. They always do a wonderful job showing our furniture at its best. Capturing them playing with a dolls house? Easy. Filming whilst three siblings are tucked up reading their favourite book? No problem.
Life on set
Watch our short film to see what being on set of a Dragons photoshoot is like. Come back next week to read Part Two: A Dragons Photoshoot where I'll give you the detailed story of our most recent photoshoot featuring our first Mural Wallpaper #CatchTheBlossom