Best Color Grading Studios in London (2026)

Introduction

London has one of the strongest colour grading scenes outside Los Angeles, with feature and drama facilities in Soho and a cluster of commercial colour houses further east. The 12 studios below cover both: the theatres that grade features and high-end television, and the smaller teams that grade most of the city’s commercials, fashion films and music videos.

The past two years reshaped the market. Glassworks went into liquidation in August 2025 after almost 30 years, and several colourists from closed or shrinking facilities have since set up on their own or joined smaller independents. Fawn, founded in 2025 by two former Mill colleagues, is one example. At the other end, London colourists continue to feature heavily in the major craft awards: Company 3 London had four projects commended at the 2025 FilmLight Colour Awards, including Andor season 2 and The Phoenician Scheme, and Harbor’s Pillion won Best British Independent Film at BIFA 2025.

Every studio here has an active London base in 2026. They were chosen for recent work, recent recognition and the depth of their colourist rosters. The list is unranked, since the right studio depends on the format, the budget and which colourist you want in the chair.

The best color grading studios in London

1. Company 3 London

Part of Company 3 · London · company3.com

Company 3 is a global colour and finishing company, and its London office grades features, drama and commercials. Its London colourists are regulars on awards lists: Gareth Spensley and Gareth Thomas graded Reunion, which won the UK Television Drama category at the 70th BSC Awards in February 2026, and Jean-Clément Soret’s grade on Andor season 2 was commended at the 2025 FilmLight Colour Awards.

Commercial work runs alongside the long-form slate. Tim Masick’s grade on Gucci “We Will Always Have London” was commended in 2025, and Simon Bourne (B&Q “You Can Do It”) and Soret (Cadbury “Yours For 200 Years”) were shortlisted for the British Arrows the same year. Bookings tend to follow individual colourists, so ask early for the person you want.

2. Harbor London (incorporating Cheat)

Owned by Harbor Picture Company · Clerkenwell · harborpicturecompany.com

Harbor, the New York post group, bought the London colour studio Cheat in September 2023 and runs it from its Turnmills building, alongside sound, VFX and dailies. Cheat founder Toby Tomkins remains a senior colourist and graded Harry Lighton’s Pillion (A24), which played at Cannes in 2025 and won Best British Independent Film at BIFA 2025.

The advertising roster includes Tomkins, Alex Gregory (named in Televisual’s top 10 colourists again in 2025) and Karol Cybulski. Recent spots include Tetley “Britain’s Tea” for Pablo London and ING “The Hungry Lama” for Leagas Delaney. A single building for picture and sound suits projects that cross from commercials into features.

3. Electric Theatre Collective

Independent · Brick Lane, Shoreditch · electrictheatre.com

Electric Theatre Collective is a VFX, colour and design studio with offices in London and New York. Its colour arm, Electric Colour, has ten colourists including director of colour Luke Morrison and Jason Wallis, and in August 2026 it added Alex Winker for representation in the UK and US.

Recent work covers Netflix, Apple, OpenAI and Coca-Cola, along with music videos for Koffee and campaigns for Nike and Lexus. The colour team also grades long-form, including the feature My Father’s Shadow. Having VFX in the same building helps on jobs where grade and compositing need to move together.

4. Time Based Arts

Independent · Shoreditch · time-based-arts.com

Flame artists James Allen and Mike Skrgatic founded Time Based Arts in 2009 as a self-funded VFX studio. It opened a colour department in 2015, which LBB described at the time as East London’s first commercials grading facility, and BAFTA-nominated colourist Simone Grattarola (Peaky Blinders) joined to lead it. The studio is a certified B Corp.

Its reel spans Nike, Uber, Disney and Google Pixel campaigns, music videos for Oasis, and feature work on Poor Things and Love Lies Bleeding. It suits directors who want grade and finishing handled by one small, senior team.

5. Studio RM

Independent · London · studio-rm.com

Robert Moore founded Studio RM in 2010, and it now grades and retouches from London, New York and Paris, where it opened a studio in October 2025. Its focus is fashion, campaigns and commercials, with colour, finishing and still retouching under one roof.

Recent work includes a Louis Vuitton show film. The roster includes senior colourists Jack McGinity and Vlad Barin (who joined from Harbor) and colourist Jules Wileman. For fashion clients who need motion and stills to match, the combined grading and retouching service is the main draw.

6. Fawn

Independent · London · lbbonline.com/companies/fawn

Fawn is an independent colour house founded in 2025 by senior colourist Felipe Szulc and executive producer Dan Hills, who previously worked together at The Mill. Its stated aim is to build a roster around emerging colourists, and it signed Maruf Khan in November 2025 and Vanessa Aparicio, formerly of Glassworks, in June 2026.

In its first year Fawn graded work for adidas, Nike, Samsung, Coca-Cola and Bulgari, as well as the video game Death Stranding 2 and the Women’s Aid campaign “Van Wife”. It suits brands and directors who are open to working with newer colourists under senior supervision.

7. Coffee & TV

Owned by Omnicom · London · coffeeand.tv

Coffee & TV is a colour, VFX and design studio with a London headquarters and creative studios in New York and Los Angeles. Omnicom bought it in February 2024, together with its long-form finishing facility Residence Pictures, and it is a certified B Corp.

Recent projects include the Nissan Leaf for Nissan Europe, Tiffany & Co, Netflix’s Kylie Tension Tour and Sky Sports’ F1 titles for 2026. The Residence Pictures side handles long-form finishing, so a commercial client and a documentary client can use the same group.

8. Goldcrest Post

Part of Goldcrest · Soho · goldcrestfilms.com

Goldcrest Post works from two Soho buildings on Lexington Street, with two DI theatres, three sound mixing theatres and an ARRI film scanner. It concentrates on feature films and high-end television, and its credits include Slow Horses, Jurassic World: Rebirth and How to Train Your Dragon.

Adam Glasman’s grade on Nosferatu was commended at the 2025 FilmLight Colour Awards, and senior colourist Jet Omoshebi graded the Disney+ series A Thousand Blows in Dolby Vision HDR. Productions that also need sound and film scanning can keep the whole finish in one place.

9. Picture Shop London

Part of Streamland Media · Soho · pictureshop.com

Picture Shop, part of Streamland Media, runs five London sites, with colour suites at Lexington Street and Marshall Street in Soho and Newman Street in Fitzrovia, plus dailies at Pinewood. It handles scripted and unscripted television as well as features.

Its London credits include Tokyo Vice season 2, Happy Valley and Fellow Travelers. For long-running series and unscripted formats with tight delivery schedules, its size and range of suites are the practical advantage.

10. Molinare

Part of Molinare Creative Group · Soho · molinare.co.uk

Molinare is a long-established Soho post house for television and film, led by CEO Nigel Bennett. In 2023 it formed the Molinare Creative Group, adding Notorious DIT for dailies and on-set work, the Sound Warriors audio brand and Voice Molinare for ADR and voice recording.

The grading team works on Baselight under head of grading Ross Baker and covers scripted and unscripted work. Senior colourist Carlotta Rio, who joined from Splice, has graded documentaries such as Workerbee’s Janet Jackson series and Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty.

11. OkayStudio

Independent · London · okaystudio.co.uk

OkayStudio is an independent post house in London and Berlin covering editing, colour and VFX. It was based in Dalston in its early years and built its name on fashion, music and commercial work for clients such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel and KFC, alongside production companies including CANADA and Black Dog Films.

In 2026 it launched OkayLabs, a set of in-house tools and a roster of generative AI artists, and it runs the Final Frame Fund for emerging filmmakers. Recent hires include colourist Sydney Levy. Its mix of edit and grade suits short-form jobs that move quickly from offline to finish.

12. Wash

Independent · Bermondsey · wash.co.uk

Wash is an independent boutique for VFX, colour grading and finishing, founded in 2016 and based on Newhams Row in Bermondsey. Its colourists include Sharon Chung, whose approach LBB profiled in February 2026.

The studio hired Libby Cavenett from Saatchi & Saatchi as executive producer in July 2026, a sign of its push into agency work. It suits commercial projects that need grade and clean-up at independent rates, away from Soho.

What to look for in a London color grading studio

Start with the colourist. In London most clients book a named colourist, and senior colourists move between studios fairly often. Look at their recent reel in the format you need, whether that is a 30-second spot, a fashion film or an HDR drama series, and ask who will run the session day to day.

Match the studio to the format. The Soho facilities such as Goldcrest, Picture Shop and Molinare are built for long-form delivery, with DI theatres, Dolby Vision mastering and broadcaster QC. The East London commercial houses work in smaller suites, often with VFX next door, and turn work round faster.

Ask about remote sessions and pricing early. Many London grades now include remote review, with the director watching a calibrated stream from elsewhere. Day rates vary widely between a senior colourist at a large facility and an emerging colourist at an independent, so agree the number of grading days, revision rounds and deliverables before booking.

Plan the handover. A grade goes faster when the conform, reference stills, LUTs and notes arrive organised, and when everyone agrees where review links and feedback will live. Version confusion between the edit, the grade and the online costs suite time, which is the most expensive time on the job.

How Fabric helps color grading teams

Fabric gives colour and post teams one workspace for their files, references and client feedback, with AI search across all of it. The video editors setup suits the way a grade moves between offline, conform and finishing.

Heavy media sits in Fabric’s cloud drive, which streams files on demand so they take no local disk space. Large video files open without a full download, and shared team folders always hold the latest versions. For more on choosing storage, see the best cloud storage for video editors.

Colourists spend a lot of time on references. Search works by meaning across documents, images and transcribed audio and video, and colour search finds visual assets by shade. Similar search finds images with related composition, colour and subject, which helps when building look references. A canvas works well as a shared moodboard of stills, LUT tests and director references. The guide to what a LUT is covers the basics for clients new to the process.

For client review, any file or folder can be published as a web page and protected with a password. Link analytics shows when each named recipient opened a link. Clients can leave threaded comments through a shared link without signing up. Timestamped comments and drawing on video are coming soon to annotations, so frame-accurate notes still belong in your review tool for now.

Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best colour grading studio in London?

It depends on the job. For features and high-end drama, Company 3 London, Goldcrest Post and Harbor have the strongest recent awards records, including Reunion‘s BSC win and Pillion‘s BIFA win. For commercials and music videos, Electric Theatre Collective, Time Based Arts and Studio RM are frequent choices.

How much does colour grading cost in London?

Most studios charge a day rate for a colourist and suite, and rates vary with the colourist’s seniority, the suite and the deliverables (for example HDR mastering). Commercial grades often take one or two days, while a feature can take several weeks. Ask for a quote that lists grading days, review sessions and delivery formats.

What happened to Glassworks?

Glassworks, the London VFX studio founded in 1996, announced its closure in August 2025 and entered liquidation, citing difficult market conditions. Some of its artists have since joined other studios, such as colourist Vanessa Aparicio, who joined Fawn in 2026.

Can I attend a grade remotely?

Yes. Most London studios offer remote sessions, where the director or DP watches a live stream and gives notes in real time. For final sign-off on HDR or cinema deliverables, many clients still attend in person to see the grade on a calibrated reference display.

Should I use a colour specialist or a full-service post house?

A specialist colour house gives you a deeper colourist roster, while a full-service house keeps edit, sound, VFX and grade under one roof. If you need the full package, see the best post-production companies in London.

Related lists

Color grading studios in other cities: New York · Los Angeles · Chicago · Toronto · Sydney

More in London: Creative agencies · Post-production · VFX · Editing · Sound design · Video production

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