Look inside the Open Studios at School of Pre-degree Studies

Our inaugural Open Studios event at Lime Grove

Community, creativity and innovation were in full-flow at Lime Grove this summer as colleagues and students from School of Pre-degree Studies (SPdS) hosted their inaugural end-of- year ‘Open Studios’ from 26-28 May. Bookmarked by two fashion shows, and with a visual identity especially created by one of our students, Nhu-Phhi Dang, UAL Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, the shows drew close to 2,000 visitors to the new UAL site for all our pre-degree courses.

40 Lime Grove, the beautiful heritage-listed building in Shepherd’s Bush, where SPdS is based, was transformed into a dynamic exhibition space for the occasion and displayed work from pre-degree students across art, communication, design and fashion as they came to the end of their courses, before (for many) progressing onto other UAL degree courses.

We started with a catwalk!

Although officially opening with a preview event, the Open Studio celebrations began a little earlier with a fashion show produced by the IISF Level 3 Fashion Design students, whose final major project explored the impact the fashion industry has on the environment and how they, as emerging designers can respond by redesigning and reconstructing clothing sourced from second hand retail. The students purchased preloved clothes from the local TRAID charity retail store when it was at its sale period, and the result was an eclectic mix of fashion styles and visions, representing the individual students’ fashion direction and ideas, all of which were unveiled in the fashion show on Friday 15 May at Lime Grove.

See behind-the-scenes: See more behind the scenes footage on YouTube

On Tuesday, we held our Preview event

The preview event on Tuesday, 24 May saw around 1,300 family and friends come together to celebrate the creative journeys of our students as well as members of Executive Board and the Mayor of Hammersmith and Fulham, Cllr Sharon Holder.

Progression to UAL degrees

Open Studios at SPdS was the perfect time to celebrate the team of inspiring teachers, academics and technicians who make up this vibrant new pre-degree community.

The programming of the event exemplified the role the School plays in recruiting new students, exposing them to a range of practices, with many students discovering new passions and career paths as a result of this and progressing them onto further studies at our Colleges. SPdS is the  ideal place for home and international students to discover their creative practice.

Want to see more photos from Open Studios?

Head over to Facebook where we have an online photo album

SPdS students talk about their study plans on Instagram