Meet our Teach Inspire Create 2026 speaker: Harris Elliott O.B.E.
- Written byHarris Elliott
- Published date 19 October 2026
Harris Elliott doesn’t fit neatly into one creative box - and that’s rather the point.
Across a career spanning more than two decades, Harris has moved between fashion, film, styling, exhibitions and design, building a practice that is as interested in the spaces between creative disciplines as it is in the disciplines themselves. His work asks questions about culture, identity and influence, bringing together Anglo, Japanese and African Diaspora perspectives in unexpected ways.
Harris has gone from working with global names in fashion and media to developing independent cultural projects, consistently carving out his own visual language. He is the founder of Le Tings, an experiential studio exploring African Diaspora narratives through playful, visual and collaborative work.
What connects these different strands of his practice is a curiosity about culture and ideas, and a willingness to look beyond the obvious. It’s an approach that feels particularly relevant to this year’s Teach Inspire Create Summit, where The Journey of Making puts experimentation and the creative process at the centre.
Ahead of the Summit, we caught up with Harris to talk about storytelling, collaboration, creative careers and how educators can help young people look beyond the expected paths into the creative industries.
1. What inspired you to start Le Tings and how do cross-cultural influences impact your work?
Le Tings was born out of, a deep desire to create a culturally, playful and artistic project that wasn’t tethered to any brand or institutional expectations. We are surrounded by a myriad of cultures, Le Tings became the lens that enabled me to explore multiple cultural perspectives at the same time. Through this channel I create work that supports global diasporic conversations with makers and artisans in different communities in West and East Africa, Japan and beyond.
2. Storytelling is an important feature of your artistic direction and styling. How do you think storytelling can help teachers connect with and inspire students?
Each student has a unique, rich, cultural perspective and therefore a baseline story to build from. Encouraging students to value and explore their personal stories, gives them individual and collective context to create even more narratives to help shape their artistic output.
3. It’s vital to create opportunities for young people to experience working in the creative industry which you’ve spoken about previously. What practical things can educators do to help students understand creative careers?
It’s important for educators to be culturally and artistically aware of different artists, creative studios, exhibitions and cultural events that are taking place. Signposting young people to creatives and projects that they would ordinarily be unaware of, helps students learn to navigate artistry not exclusively referenced by digital devices.
This enables students to see other creatives that are world building in interesting ways. Some of the creatives that they learn about could be who they contact for advice, work experience or employment. Where possible bring intergenerational external creatives in to the building to share their experiences.
4.You’ve worked with big brands from Adidas to GQ and regularly curate installations in spaces around London. What have these experiences taught you about building a creative career, and what advice would you give to young people who are just starting out?
Having an intentionally refined vision, has allowed my unique point of view to develop alongside what the industry is shouting about.
Big brands are always looking for new ideas, as young people you have something that they don’t, which is fresh eyes. Youth culture is always paramount to many brands and being young means that you understand it best.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions, the worst someone can say is no. Physically go to as many things as you are able, even if that’s just once every 2 months (hopefully more). People are craving human contact and are more open to new voices than ever before.
5. At Teach Inspire Create, you will be speaking to educators from all over the UK. What’s one thing you hope they take away from your session?
Collaboration is key, if you can encourage students to grasp this, the world will be their playground.
Success should not be measured by followers, likes or monetary gain, but by the integrity of the ideas that allow you to grow as an artist.
Where does an idea go when it’s still becoming?
That question sits at the heart of Teach Inspire Create Summit 2026.
Rather than focusing solely on the finished outcome, this year’s Summit is interested in everything that happens along the way: the experiments, wrong turns, questions, unexpected discoveries and moments when an idea needs to be reworked completely.
Taking place at The Brewery, London, on Friday 20 November, the Summit brings together creative arts educators, education leaders and industry professionals to explore how we can create more space for this kind of thinking in education.
Harris will be joined by multidisciplinary artist Aziza Kadyri and comedian and Arts Emergency co-founder Josie Long, alongside creative practitioners and organisations including the National Portrait Gallery and V&A East. Across the programme, hands-on sessions and conversations will explore visual literacy, identity and storytelling, drawing, curation, creative technologies and the courage to get things wrong.
It’s a day for stepping away from the finished product and looking more closely at how creative ideas actually develop – and how educators can help young people become more confident in navigating that process for themselves.
Teach Inspire Create Summit 2026 takes place on Friday 20 November, from 8.30am–5pm, at The Brewery, London.
The Summit is free to attend for staff at centres delivering UAL Awarding Body qualifications, but places are limited and registration is required in advance.
Register now to join us.