Multi award-winning costume designer, Sandy Powell OBE RDI; celebrated artist, Chila Kumari-Burman; Queen of virtual reality, Resh Sidhu and the first female publisher in British Vogue’s 102 year-long history, Vanessa Kingori MBE are among 16 world-leading creative figures to be given honorary awards by University of the Arts this year.
They will be recognised for their outstanding contributions to the creative industries at UAL’s Graduation Ceremonies at the Royal Festival Hall from 17 – 20 July 2018.
The ceremonies will be attended by UAL’s Chancellor, Grayson Perry who will be wearing robes designed by London College of Fashion BA Fashion Textile Knit student, Yuxuan Yang #GraysonsUALRobes.
The full list of Honoraries for 2018
- Imran Amed MBE – founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of fashion news authority The Business of Fashion
- Clive Baillie – founding partner and CEO of BLT Communications, one of Los Angeles’ leading creative agencies specialising in entertainment marketing
- Denise Scott Brown (int. FRIBA) – one of the world’s most pre-eminent architects and urbanists, pioneer of the postmodern movement in architecture, and Principal of Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates
- Chila Kumari Burman – celebrated practicing and exhibiting multi-media artist for more than 30 years
- Jonathan Chippindale – founder and chief executive of Holition, an award-winning creative innovation studio marrying the world’s most iconic brands with technology and retail
- Mark Coulier – multi-award winning make-up and prosthetics artist, behind film greats such as Harry Potter, The Iron Lady and The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Theaster Gates – leading voice in contemporary art, whose work focuses on space theory and land development, sculpture and performance
- Darren Henley OBE – award-winning journalist, author and chief executive of Arts Council England
- Vanessa Kingori MBE – first female publisher in British Vogue’s 102 year-long history
- Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho CBE – businesswoman, philanthropist and co-founder of Lastminute.com, instrumental to the UK’s dot com boom in the late 1990s.
- Linda Loppa – curator, art director and leading voice in international fashion education, spanning 25 years as head of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp
- Mike Nelson RA – sculptor and installation artist, twice nominated for the Turner Prize
- Sandy Powell OBE, RDI – multi award-winning costume designer who has won three Oscars, two BAFTA Awards and a Costume Designers Guild Award
- Resham Sidhu – deemed ‘Queen of VR’, multi award-winning creative director and thought leader across digital innovation, virtual reality and immersive media
- Robert Storr – renowned curator, critic, painter and writer, former senior curator of Painting and Sculpture at Museum of Modern Art
- Gary Younge – acclaimed journalist, author, broadcaster and editor-at-large for The Guardian, covering some of the biggest stories of the last 25 years, from the Iraq War to Brexit
On receiving an Honorary Doctorate from UAL, Baroness Martha Lane-Fox CBE said:
“It is a real honour, especially from such a fabulous university such as UAL with such incredible talent. UAL has done amazing things by bringing together technology and design. I’m an ancient historian and yet I ended up in technology. I, like UAL, feel so strongly about all the disciplines being merged together to create the best possible student outcomes.”
On receiving an Honorary Doctorate from UAL Imran Amed MBE said:
“I’ve had a relationship with UAL since the very beginning of my journey with fashion. I met a woman named Willie Walters, the former head of the BA programme at Central Saint Martins and she asked early on if I’d give a lecture to students about business. We weren’t sure if there would be student interest, but she was inundated with replies.
Central Saint Martins took a bet on me as a lecturer, very early on. I turned that initial lecture, ‘The Business of Fashion,’ into a short course – the Fashion Design with Marketing pathway. I love doing the course because it keeps me connected to Central Saint Martins and to what young creative people are thinking about, which is not only important for my job but enriches me personally. So to be honoured i means a great deal to me.”
On receiving an Honorary Doctorate from UAL Vanessa Kingori MBE said:
“I’ve been working with London College of Fashion and [head of London College of Fashion] Frances Corner for over four years. We talked about giving creative students a business perspective. We discussed this great British pool of creative talent, who sometimes don’t make it into our mainstream culture because they didn’t understand how to bolster their business. That led onto me becoming a visiting Fellow, which I absolutely love. So it’s amazing to be honoured for something that you really love doing.”
On receiving an Honorary Fellowship from UAL, Sandy Powell OBE RDI said:
“I am honoured and am incredibly excited. Am I allowed to customise the cap and gown?”
The ceremonies will be streamed live on UAL’s website and live-tweeted under the hashtag #UALGrads.