London Met Alumni Celebrate Success

London Met alumni are enjoying career success and have been recognised for their achievements. Amanda Rose has been listed by Management Today as one of their top ‘35 women under 35’ in business, Naz Karahasanoglu has won the Prestigious D and AD award and Imogen Belfield has won the New Designers One Year On Award 2010.

Amanda Rose, who studied the MA Communications Management Course at the Cass (The Sir John Cass Department of Art, Media and Design) has been listed by Management Today as one of their top ‘35 women under 35’ in business. Canadian-born Amanda was behind Twestival, which used social media to raise $1.2m for charity. She also co-ordinated London Fashion Week and the Brit Awards before founding strategy consultancy Connect the Dots. In March, CNN named her one of the year's Most Intriguing People.

The launch of the tenth 35 under 35 list was celebrated at a lavish event at the Haymarket Hotel in Central London. The Guest speaker was Martha Lane Fox, internet entrepreneur and government Digital Champion, who also appeared on the inaugural ’35 Women Under 35’ list back in 2001. She spoke of the necessity of being bold in business and of the need to be confident in your own abilities. She cited the German philosopher Goethe as an inspiration: ‘Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.’ See the full list and read more about the award click here.


Naz Karahasanoglu who studied the BA (Hons) Interior Design and Technology course has won a Commendation in the prestigious international  D and AD student awards. Naz’ project, in the Environmental Design category, responded to a brief to Create an individual but functional market stall for Old Spitalfields Market that will unify the space, and be easily identifiable as being unique to its location. Her solution is an elegant, easy to assemble and innovative market stall concept which uses flexible structures, taking its inspiration from Origami.

The D&AD Student Awards programme the design and advertising communities award for those looking to break into the industry. It is embedded in curriculums in over 1,000 colleges and courses around the world. The programme has two aims, both on a global level:  to find the best new talent for the industry, and to put creativity high on the agenda in the higher and further education curriculum.

Imogen Belfield, who studied BA Jewellery has won the New Designers One Year On Award 2010. She was also was nominated as a finalist for the Young Accessory Designer of the Year. The award was judged at the One Year On exhibition, part of the annual New Designers event at the Business Design Centre, which showcases a  group of 45 selected designers who are one year out of graduation or have been trading for one year. Imogen wins £500, a Year’s free membership for newdesignersonline.co.uk and a year’s membership to Design-Nation, the selected design resource founded by Peta Levi MBE.

Imogen’s work impressed the judges for ‘her clear awareness of her market, and the very individual work using a current and interesting mix of materials. It shows great ambition and takes appropriate steps to achieving it.’

Delighted that respected people in the industry have an appreciation for her work, Imogen said, ‘I intend to push boundaries in body adornment and be experimental in my approach to materials and design. Looking ahead, I would really like to have a catwalk show and create large scale pieces derived from my current collection.’

27 July 2010