I’ve no doubt that some of the people that might stumble across our blog spent some time studying at Central Saint Martins. St Martins is steeped in history and I’d argue the best fashion college in the world. From their graduates (McQueen, Westwood, Leigh, and so many more), mentions on pop hits, to the campus on Charing Cross Road, Central St Martins is iconic. British and fashion history has been carried out in that concrete building, so when I found out it was to be moved, it was a little sad.
Then I got invited to see the new one. Oh boy.
First thing you think is, ‘bugger it’s big’. A short walk from King’s Cross Station, the campus is a combination of an old Victorian granary, two former transit sheds and a 1.3 newly laid timber blocks. The architects really have done quite well combining the old buildings with the new. There is 10 acres of floor space and enough concrete to fill 8 Olympic swimming pools, that equals a lot of art students – a bargain at £200 million.
The campus has four levels devoted to multi-purpose workshops, specialist studios and state of the art lecture theatres. One massively cool thing about it is that the building is naturally lit by a translucent roof. The campus is so big, you can imagine how this will literally inspire art! Everything was new and working, but not in a horrible 2 bedroom flat in commutersville, in a Grand Designs kinda way.
Leni Bjerg, the Technical Co-ordinator showed us round and you could tell she was super excited about the venue. The same feeling was amongst the students, it’s a real pleasurable building. And the fashion department? That was pretty cool too.
We stumbled across this massively cool machine that cost over £20k, it can do cool stuff like below. Peggy told me not to touch it, sound advise.
An incredible fashion department, good luck to everyone starting there. Who knows when the next genius will graduate and turn fashion on it’s head again?
Oh and btw? They use our steamers too…
