Goldsmiths College Notable Alumni

British fashion designer, Dame Vivienne Westwood, is credited for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. She attended a course on jewelry at the University of Westminster but left before graduating. She worked as a teacher for a while before turning to fashion designing. She eventually opened four boutiques in London.

Grammy-winning English singer Damon Albarn has previously been part of two major bands, Blur and Gorillaz, as their lead vocalist and primary songwriter. He has also performed as part of the supergroup The Good, the Bad & the Queen. His solo album Everyday Robots was nominated for a Mercury Award.

Experimental musician John Cale is best known as the co-founder of the rock band The Velvet Underground. The son of a coal miner father, he later developed a love for music that earned him a scholarship to the University of London. Prescribed opiates for his bronchial issues, he later struggled with addiction.

Artist Damien Hirst first gained fame in the 1980s. A master of conceptual art, he creates everything from paintings and installations to sculptures and drawings, with topics ranging from mortality and beauty to rebirth and technology. One of his creations featured dead animals preserved in formaldehyde, while another featured rows of multicolored spots.

Linton Kwesi Johnson is a Jamaican-born British-based activist and dub poet. He is best known for his poetry that deals with the experiences of an African-Caribbean in Britain. Linton Kwesi Johnson was honored with the PEN Pinter Prize in July 2020.  

Gary Hume is an English artist best known for his association with Young British Artists. A popular artist, Gary Hume represented Great Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1999. In the exhibition, Hume showcased his famous Water series. In 1997, he was honored with Great Britain's prestigious Jerwood Painting Prize.

Although British sculptor Rebecca Warren is chiefly known for her works in clay, steel and bronze, she is equally at home with variety of other materials, creating collages and wall mounted vitrines with neon, wool, pompoms, paper, thread etc. Currently a member of the Royal Academy of Arts, she has been holding solo exhibitions across Europe and USA since 2003.