Seven days later

Welcoming over 1,900 new students, factory visits in Stoke, a visit from an Oscar-winning designer and events celebrating Black History Month, the first week of term has been jam-packed! 

We’ve rounded up our highlights of the first week of the new academic year and gathered together some of our favourite images our students have shared over social media. 

Our Spatial Practices programme announced the line-up for their autumn lecture series. Presenting a host of acclaimed architects, it includes new faces to the programme; Andreas Lang, MArch Course Leader, and Alex Warnock-Smith BA Architecture Course Leader will discuss their work and approach.

October is Black History Month and last night saw the launch of an exhibition of work by UAL students celebrating black culture in the Student Union’s new gallery space. The show is open to all staff and students from all UAL colleges and is one of many events taking place as part of UAL’s Black History Month schedule of events.

Credit: @hansikajethnani – Instagram

Current students Angelica Ellis and Jennifer Uche launched ‘Black Icons’, a free magazine born from a project led by Fashion Awareness Direct (FAD). Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund in collaboration with the Black Cultural Archives, the magazine celebrates black icons of the British jazz age in the 1920s and 30s. View the gallery below for a sneak peak into the magazine, or head over to the FAD website to view the full magazine.

Find about Black History Month at UAL.

On Thursday three-time Academy Award-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood discussed her designs for Disney’s Alice Through the Looking Glass in a master class with students from our Drama and Performance programme.

Across the College sketchbooks are already beginning to fill up. Over in Foundation our Fashion Textiles pathway launched a live project with menswear label Rottingdean Bazaar. Led by MA Fashion alum James Theseus Buck and Luke Brooks, the students were invited to hijack everyday objects and use them to create and develop new print techniques.

Taking the action outside the College, MA Art and Science students exhibited work in St Pancras Crypt Gallery. From chemical reactions to experimental collaborations with scientists, the work on show represented the students’ individual connections with science as well as diverse and innovative uses of materials and process “This student-initiated show comes at the moment before we commence our final year of study. It showcases the creative energy and the evolution of our investigations as we prepare for our degree show.”  – Neus Torres Tamarit, curator and exhibiting artist.

Continuing their 40-year-old tradition, BA Ceramic Design first year students ventured up to Stoke-on-Trent for a series of factory and workshop explorations, which included the World of Wedgwood, Endeka Ceramics and Emma Bridgewater. Follow the Product, Ceramic and Industrial Design programme on Instagram for more updates from the trip.

So cheers to all our students (new and returning) at the end of a busy week and the first of many. Can’t wait to see what happens next!