Baby Art Studios has won the Best Marketing Campaign 2026 title at the BizX Awards.
The business began in 2010 after photographers Brendan Taylor and wife Kaylie Bryant lost their second child, Lewis, who was born prematurely.
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At that time, they were running Taylor Made Portraits – a more generalist photography business based in Ipswich.
The grief they experienced made them want to create memories for parents through maternity and up to babies’ first birthdays.
Melanie Holmes, Kaylie Bryant, Brendan Taylor at the microphone and Action Coach founder Brad Sugars (Image: Baby Art Studios)
“When we went through the loss of our son Lewis in 2010 we wanted to create the memories we wanted to create ourselves,” said Brendan.
Today the £2.5m turnover business – which is based in Ipswich and runs its flagship studio at the town’s Kersey Mill – operates a total of 13 studios around the UK.
Ten are franchise businesses at locations from Manchester to Hampshire and the other three at Ipswich, Bedfordshire and Greenwich in London are run directly by the couple.
The business employs around 30 to 40 people and Kaylie is its head trainer or “baby whisperer”.
Kaylie Bryant and Brendan Taylor – founders of Baby Art Studios (Image: Baby Art Studios)
Staff are trained to handle sensitive subjects such as baby loss. “Our whole business is based on the customer experience,” said Brendan.
Since launching, Baby Art Studios has worked with more than 20,000 families across the UK.
The national awards are backed by major brands including Santander, Worldpay and Sky TV.
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“Winning this award shows that we’re not only reaching more parents, but we’re continuing to deliver something meaningful once they walk through our doors,” said Brendan.
“Every family we photograph is trusting us with something really important.”
Over the past five years the business has grown, he added.
“We are currently having the best year we have ever had and we had the best year we ever had last year,” he said.
“For us, marketing isn’t really about marketing. It’s about making sure mums and dads know we exist at the exact moment they want to capture those early memories, because those moments pass so quickly.”
Kaylie Bryant and Brendan Taylor – founders of Baby Art Studios (Image: Baby Art Studios)
In 2024, Baby Art Studios was awarded Best Marketing Campaign at the National Entrepreneur Awards by Entrepreneur Circle.
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Brendan and Kaylie have three surviving children – Lacy, Ruby-Mae – who is deaf – and Rowen – who is autistic.
They work with deaf and autistic charities and coach other photographers around the world.
They have also launched the Rainbow Baby Project to celebrate “rainbow babies” —children born after the loss of a previous pregnancy or infant.