Category: Alumni

The paths taken by former Goldsmiths students after graduation are very diverse: for example, Emma Lamp (an alumna of the BA Design course) is now a stylist whose portfolio includes advertising for a variety of popular brands from Mercedes to MTV and music videos for artists such as Mumford and Sons, Natalie Imbruglia, Florence and the Machine, Tiesto, Laura Mvula and many others. Emma has agreed to talk to us about the path to her current career: 

How did you become a stylist? How would you advise someone interested in this line of work to get started?

A month of applying for jobs after graduation landed me a job as a Junior Artworker at an online clothing brand. I was copying layouts in InDesign for their catalogue; I hated it. So three months later I quit and decided I really should at least take a risk and try to do what I loved. During my 3 years at Goldsmiths, I’d been doing as much work experience as I could as a Stylist’s Assistant. I started at Men’s Health Magazine, by the end of the 2nd year I was working as an Assistant to the Fashion Editor of Russian Vogue. All of this was unpaid (not even travel expenses) and some days I’d start at 8am and not be finished until 11pm….I didn’t enjoy it all the time, but I felt it was one day really going to help me.

Continue reading “Emma Lamp, stylist: “I learnt at Goldsmiths not to stop at your first idea and push things further””

As we had recently informed you, Adam Charlton, a graduate of our MA in Design: Critical Practice, is on the shortlist for Design Week’s Rising Star award, so this is a good opportunity for all of us to find out more about him and his work! Shortly after graduation, Adam began a career abroad in branding, and he has been travelling back and forth between Hong Kong and the UK ever since. Here he is talking to us about his time at Goldsmiths, his current job, and much more.

How did you end up studying at Goldsmiths?

After my Undergraduate degree [product design at Portsmouth], I wanted deeper thought and a larger awareness of design. I had a very broad education of design, but I definitely wanted to learn more theory and put it into practice. I just wanted more, and it was quite a natural step.

Did you enjoy it?

It was great. Coming out of college, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. I knew it was within the design industry, and I also always enjoyed working hands on crafting in workshops. The Portsmouth course was a great foundation in industrial design, but I kind of fell into it. To find Goldsmiths was great, to get introduced to design theory- which really first conceived the installation art and has since bled into my branding work. It’s never felt like swimming against tides. Continue reading “Adam Charlton on branding, award nominations and more”