Royal College of Art

Tim Brennan is the visionary designer who created Vivobarefoot, the shoes that allow our feet to work as nature intended, at the Royal College of Art 👟

Vivobarefoot went into production a year after graduating sparking the modern barefoot running movement.

The project shifted in how people think about footwear and running technique around the world.

Read our interview 👉

Tim Brennan uses design to support health, the way we walk, and improve our posture Tim Brennan (MA Industrial Design Engineering, 2002) is a visionary innovator whose journey through the world of design and engineering has created a new category in the footwear industry and helped to transform the health of countless individuals.

Next week, we'll open the doors to our Battersea campus for our Graduate Exhibitions & Events.

Get a taste of the work on show ➡️ https://bit.ly/4eh5W2O

Images:
Wing-Hung Lit, (MFA Arts & Humanities)
Calder MacKay (MA Painting)
Cindy (Xinyi) Wu’s (MA Jewellery & Metal)

🇯🇲 RCA grads are making a mark in Jamaica 🍃

3 Little Birds is a new mural created by 2025 RCA graduates Xavier Laurent Leopold (MA Contemporary Art Practice) and Alissa Roach (MA Writing) in Downtown Kingston, Jamaica as part of Kingston Creative's Art Walk.

The artwork was developed during an RCA BLK residency, led by Emily Moore, Chair of RCA BLK and MA Painting alumna, at Orange Park in Jamaica - the estate of late artist Barrington Watson. Watson (1931–2016) was the first Black student to study at the RCA, and this marks the second year that RCA graduates have traveled to his former home for artist residencies.

This collaborative artwork blends the two distinct visual languages of Xavier Laurent Leopold and Alissa Roach. It shows a hybrid structure, where a wing - a motif of migration, weight, and transcendence - is embedded into the grid of a breeze block - an architectural form deeply rooted in Caribbean architecture.

Learn more about RCA BLK: https://www.rca.ac.uk/study/the-rca-experience/rca-blk/

Interested in our Graduate Diploma Art & Design?

Join us at an Open Day either Online or On Campus and/or for an Online Study Webinar where you can get your questions answered about how the Graduate Diploma Art & Design prepares you for Master’s study at the RCA.

Wednesday 3 June, Online Open Day: https://bit.ly/4vsWn86
Wednesday 10 June, On Campus Open Day: https://bit.ly/4upF5bL
Wednesday 17 June, Online Study Webinar: https://bit.ly/49v6ssA

Want to join a free print workshop with on of our MA Print graduates?

This weekend (6–7 June) at the Great Exhibition Road Festival our MA Print graduate Tamsin Loxley will lead print workshops inspired by the John Haddon Etching Press which dates from the Great Exhibition of 1851...

You’ll be able to take a print home and contribute to a collective exhibition which will grow over the course of the festival. Open to all ages and experience levels!

Find out more 👉

Machines of No Reason - The Great Exhibition Road Festival Invent, draw and print playful, imaginary machines which you can take home or exhibit with Royal College of Art graduate Tamsin Loxley.

Our new Battersea campus turns 4 this weekend 🎈

We opened our transformed Battersea campus four years ago tomorrow! The new space, which includes our Studio Building, enables our community of postgraduate art and design students to take on new and pressing global challenges by bringing together diverse disciplines in one space.

The campus provided four extra storeys of studio space for our students, new homes for our research centres and InnovationRCA in the Rausing Building, and advanced facilities including a space for the RCA Robotics Laboratory.

The campus also provides an incredible space for exhibitions and events, the Hangar with vast doors that open the 350 sqm multifunctional space to public walkways and allow the installation of large complex pieces. Looking forward to seeing what’s our graduating students put in this space at RCA2026! 👀

📸 Iwan Baan

Planning a trip to Venice Biennale? 🦁 🇮🇹

Make sure to visit ‘Guardians Across Two Shores’ - a major new sculptural project consisting of two large-scale ceramic lion sculptures.

Sophie Anna Green and Max Eugeni, 2025 graduates of the RCA's MA Print, are part The Old Fire Station Collective - the group behind the project.

Led by internationally recognised sculptor Emma Rodgers, The Old Fire Station Collective is known for its collaborative, process-driven approach to making.

Drawing on the shared symbolism of the lion as both the historic emblem of Venice and the heraldic symbol of Wirral, the works form a cultural and conceptual bridge between the two places.

📍 The sculptures will be exhibited in Palazzo Bembo.
🗓️ 9 May - 22 Nov

"Contemplation or camaraderie is the core struggle of my thesis." 📚

Laura Boutros (Communication MPhil/PhD student) reflects on her doctoral studies journey at the RCA – and making her way to her viva through discipline and caffeine ☕

Read her blog ➡️

Life at the RCA: Finding your research voice Communication MPhil/PhD student Laura Boutros reflects on the evolving journey of doctoral study at the RCA. From navigating imposter syndrome, developing discipline and discovering how research can take shape over a simple cup of coffee.

You’ve seen this dress worn by Emma Chamberlain but did you know it was hand-painted by our MA Fashion graduate Anna Deller-Yee...

The custom Mugler gown was designed by Creative Director Miguel Castro Freitas and Anna took 40 hours to paint the dress using fine art materials - the result is we can’t stop looking at it!

Anna is from Chicago and refers to herself as “a designer that paints too much” a title that she has proudly adopted since studying at the Royal College of Art (she graduated in 2021).

Since graduating she has also worked for Marni and collaborated with Nike on a collection of performance wear. We cant wait to see what she does next! 🎨🤩

Explore her RCA2021 profile ⬇️

https://lnkd.in/dXRDdtrE