Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
our alumni
LARC Our peopleI'll tell you what I liked about the course, it had a very creative side to it and you had to do life drawing every week and you had to make physical models and it was very hands on. We had computers back then but drawing was a very important part of the course and most of the other courses didn’t really care about that.
Ed Barber
BA (Hons) Interior Design (1986-1989)
The English Designer, Edward Barber studied Interior Design at Leeds Beckett, then known as Leeds Polytechnic University, between 1986 and 1989. Following his undergraduate degree, Barber studied MA Architecture at the Royal College of Art where he met Jay Osgerby, who completed a foundation art course at Oxford Brookes University and studied product design at Ravensbourne College, London. Together the pair founded their eponymous studio Barber & Osgerby in 1996. Their work encompasses: furniture, lighting and product design; art and large-scale architectural projects.
From their original studio in Trellick Tower London, Barber & Osgerby designed their first furniture piece, the Loop Table, which was produced by the modernist/contemporary design firm Isokon in 1997. Much of their early work involved shaping and folding sheet materials, as influenced by architectural model making with pieces of white card. Other materials such as plywood and perspex have been used by Barber & Osgerby to develop their designs; Pilot Table, 1999, and Stencil Screen, 2000, for example.
In 2011, Barber & Osgerby were commissioned to design the London Olympic Torch. Having made a significant contribution to design and the field of design research, the University presented Barber with an Honorary Doctorate Degree in 2012. As Honorary Doctors of Arts, Barber & Osgerby have continued to lecture around the world and have hosted events at Ecal Switzerland, and the Vitra Design Museum. Their work is exhibited internationally and held by the V&A, London; London’s Design Museum; New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art; and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Beside their studio, Barber & Osgerby founded the Universal Design Studio – recognised as one of the world’s most innovative creative design consultancies working in architecture, interiors and exhibition design. This award-winning practice works with restaurants, hotels and retail spaces; workspaces, galleries and renowned cultural institutions to provide cutting edge research, design intuition and creative direction for ambitious clientele.
