LONDON — University of the Arts London graduates Veepra Mishra, Justina Alexandroff, and Jianing Ding have been named winners of the inaugural Chancery Rosewood Creative Transformation Awards, selected from 20 finalists drawn from across the university.
The three graduates will each receive a 5,000 pounds grant funded by the Qatari Diar-owned and Chow Tai Fook Enterprises-managed hotel to support the next stage of their professional careers.
The finalists were selected through UAL Showcase, the university’s annual platform connecting graduating students with industry. Their works represent an expansive range of disciplines spanning fashion, design, communication, photography, digital media, technology, performance and interdisciplinary practices.
A graduate of MA Fashion Futures at London College of Fashion, Mishra’s focus was on reclaiming assistive devices as culturally expressive fashion.
Her project was inspired by her mother, who would hide her cane behind her back every time a camera appeared. The result was a golden, eye-catching cane adorned with jewelry. Mishra described it as a culturally expressive artifact that holds beauty, heritage and emotional truth.
Alexandroff is an MA Material Futures graduate from Central Saint Martins. Her award-winning project, an artificial flower system, aims to guide pollinating insects toward nearby flower-rich areas amid urban air pollutants disrupting floral odors.
Ding, who graduated from Camberwell College of Arts with an MA in Graphic Design Communication, looked at how the human body is shaped by human–machine intelligence with her project. Through visual narratives and AR masks, the work creates an experience that invites viewers to reflect on their own position within the digital era.
Justina Alexandroff with Michael Bonsor, managing director of the Chancery Rosewood.
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The awards sit within a broader collaboration between the hospitality brand and the university, which began in January. Over six months, UAL students, graduates, and academics have activated spaces across the hotel with exhibitions, talks and events, testing how an ultra-luxury property can function as a platform for emerging talent.
In February, for example, the hotel’s grand ballroom hosted a presentation for MA fashion graduates at the London College of Fashion to showcase their takes on sustainability, new materials and identity.
Alongside the awards presentation at the hotel by Grosvenor Square, the celebration of the partnership last week featured a networking reception and the unveiling of a newly commissioned virtual reality exhibition by Michael Gossage, a multidisciplinary artist and creative technologist. He created an immersive digital environment to showcase the work of the 20 finalists.
The partnership with UAL, which also includes Chelsea College of Arts, the London College of Communication, and the Wimbledon College of Arts, is aimed at helping the hotel position itself as a connector and a cultural host, reflecting the group’s recent ambition to rebrand, shifting from a hospitality provider to a purpose-led cultural lifestyle brand.