Ten of the most inspirational quotes from the art, design, fashion and performance luminaries honoured at UAL’s Graduation 2014.
1. Emma Hill: ” I admire free thinking, brave, ambitious, fabulous, bonkers British creativity. We have produced, nurtured, created and attracted innovative creative talent in Britain for generations. Sometimes we take it for granted but we shouldn’t. Sometimes politicians and the financial community don’t take creativity seriously but they should. Creativity can and does change the world.”
2.Rob Dickins: “Be the light not the reflection. Take risks – when I took risks I had momentous successes and tremendous failures, but they were noble failures.”
3. Felicity Green “I like to break the rules. Journalism should be fun. It should be about words. I’d rather talk about style than fashion.’”
4. Harold Koda: “There are likely to be prodigies and wunderkind among you, but for the majority of us it is important to remember that the process of continual learning, intellectual and creative evolution and maturation is as likely to bring us to our goals as an explosion of youthful genius. Today you are all poised with the potential to add your original inflection to the future.”
5. Alice Rawsthorne: “Design is one of the most powerful forces in our lives and also one of the most misunderstood. You’re entering design at such an amazing time, empowered to work in more roles than ever. There’s an incredible array of opportunities ahead of you. Enjoy it – that’s the most important thing.”
6. Tom Hulme: “My dad’s advice to me was: stop and smell the flowers – celebrate the small victories. Err on the side of openness. Don’t hide your ideas because you think they’re not perfect.”
7. John Tusa: “The arts help us learn, think, heal, communicate, make us happy and shape the way the world around us looks.”
8. Justine Picardie: ” I was drawn to fashion by the power of storytelling – what binds us together rather than separates us. As Virginia Woolf observed, the clothes we wear tell us something about ourselves.”
9. Mariko Mori: “Our past and present are witnesses of political and religious conflict. I would like us to remember that every ethnic shares the same belief in appreciating nature. My personal hope is that my work contributes to the unity of humankind and our shared values on a timeless connection to our earth. We are all children of nature.”
10. Nick Knight: “Your excitement starts now.”