Central Saint Martins was formed in 1989 from the merger of two, much older, colleges: the Central School of Arts & Crafts (founded in 1896) and St Martin's School of Art (founded in 1854). Both of the founding colleges were internationally renowned for the work of their students and staff. St Martin's was particularly well known for fashion and fine art and the Central School for a wide range of design and art, including theatre design, industrial design and graphic design.
Comprising more than 24,000 students from over 100 countries, the University offers a range of academic programmes from further education through to undergraduate, postgraduate and research degrees. Professional diplomas, certificates and short courses are available in a wide variety of subjects. Our former staff and students have included some of the most important British and international artists working over the last 150 years from May Morris, the daughter of William Morris, and William Lethaby who founded the Central School, to Lucien Freud and Frank Auerbach who studied fine art at St Martin's in the middle of the 20th century, to the latest wave of exciting British fashion designers including John Galliano, Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney who have changed the face of international fashion in the 1990s.
Fashion is a fast moving and highly diverse international industry with a wide range of markets and creative communication and production practices. It takes hard work, flexibility and passion to succeed. Our philosophy is to provide a learning environment in which innovation, invention and originality can be developed within a range of different, but closely related, fashion pathways. It springs from the belief that for fashion graduates to contribute effectively in a climate of change in the new millennium, they need to be versatile fashion specialists.
They will need to possess an in-depth knowledge of their chosen fields, as well a breadth of knowledge and critical understanding of the professional fashion environment. The BA Fashion course at Central Saint Martins has earned a national and international reputation for producing innovative and highly creative designers and fashion communicators who have gone on to make outstanding and directional contributions within a variety of fashion professions in the UK and abroad.
Graduates include such influential names as John Galliano, Hussein Chalayan, Matthew Williamson, Stella McCartney and the journalists Iain R Webb, Jeremy Langmead and Andrew Davis.
Central Saint Martins is one of the world’s leading centres for art and design education, a reputation based around the achievements of its graduates and the creative energy of its current staff and students. The College brings a broad range of art and design activities together in an extraordinary new building, voted the world’s best higher education building in 2012. The building allows the exchange of ideas and techniques across disciplines, acting as a huge workshop of thinking and making, underpinned by a strong research base and exceptional technical resources.
Central Saint Martins is centred around nine programme areas: Art, Product, Ceramic and Industrial Design, Culture and Enterprise, Drama and Performance, Fashion, Graphic Communication Design, Spatial Practices, Jewellery and Textiles, Foundation and Access to HE.
These programmes share an approach of exploring the boundaries of their discipline; our students and staff are continually curious and always restless in developing beyond the accepted norms of their subject, so the work emerging from Central Saint Martins is at the forefront of its area. The College inspires its students and staff to be alert to new approaches and ideas; the resulting journey can be challenging but is never dull. This forward-looking approach places Central Saint Martins at the heart of London’s dynamic creative scene.
All of our courses have strong links with practice and industry through visiting lectures, live projects and tutors who are leading practitioners. In any one month numerous people, events and exhibitions pass through the College, enriching the core curriculum in multiple ways and making it a major force in the art and design world.
Students from all over the world come to join us in this exciting adventure. You could be the next. Be brave and do what you love.
