It’s mid-October, which means around two million undergraduates are now a month or so into their first term of the academic year, and, all being well, firmly in the swing of university life. They will be studying everything from medicine at Cambridge to content creation at Nottingham Trent, and hopefully not yet stressing too much about whether a formal education is really worth its weight in tuition fees.
Some of them will be studying interior design – with over 120 courses on offer at over 50 UK universities. And they will likely be aware of a question that appears frequently online, from Reddit to Quora: can visual design be learned (and taught), or are there simply innate talents that some people have that make them good designers? Beauty is subjective, after all, and a keen eye for detail and the subconscious ability to enhance a space’s visual impact are not necessarily acquired in a lecture theatre.
Which leads to a follow-up question: do you need an academic qualification to make it as an interior designer? Not necessarily. We need only look to House & Garden's 2026 Interior Designer of the Year, Max Rollitt, who, after an interlude living with a group of hippies on a Welsh hillside in his twenties, discovered a liking for working with wood and went on to study joinery.
Completing an apprenticeship with Winchester-based furniture restorers Frearson & Hewlett, ‘was the best education,’ he says. ‘All the top London dealers came in, and the work made me fanatical about craftsmanship and patination.’ Max makes a convincing case for the school of practical experience, where craftsmanship and intrinsic motivation can prove just as valuable as a framed diploma.
Following an altogether different path, Sarah Peake of Studio Peake originally studied English Literature at Durham University, followed by pattern cutting and tailoring at Chelsea College of Arts, before discovering a real passion for interiors while interning at House & Garden.
Her earliest lessons in decoration, however, came long before university, after watching her mother imbue unfamiliar rooms with warmth and comfort as the family moved frequently throughout her childhood. She went on to earn her decorative stripes with Alidad, another of this year's House & Garden Awards winners, before establishing her own studio.
For those seeking a more conventional and academic route, Emma Pocock, one half of design studio Turner Pocock, trained at KLC School of Design before cutting her teeth under two doyennes of interior decoration: Henrietta Spencer-Churchill and Kate Bingham. Fellow KLC alumna and this year’s House & Garden Rising Star Award winner Rebecca Hughes says, ‘When people ask me how to get into interior design, my first response is usually: it depends on where you are in life right now and how much time you have available.’
Without the ability to commit to three years of dedicated study, Rebecca instead opted for a postgraduate diploma. ‘At that stage in my career, it was the most practical and direct route for me,’ she says. Proof that one needn't spend three solid years in higher education to earn what’s required to take the first steps as a designer.
But that's not to say a formal degree is not the right choice for many – as Rebecca is quick to point out when discussing the academic backgrounds of members of her own team. ‘All of my team have interior design degrees, and my Head of Design studied at the University of the Arts London (UAL), which was a fantastic experience.’
And obviously there’s rather more to the profession than knowing your chintz from your chinoiserie. ‘What makes a degree particularly valuable is the opportunity to learn from tutors who are actively working within the industry and, in many cases, running their own design practices,’ Rebecca explains. 'They bring current, real-world experience directly into the studio, giving students a strong balance between creativity and the technical side of design – from CAD and lighting design to materials, construction, and building regulations.’ A useful reminder that whilst a good eye might get you through the door, knowing what to do once you're inside is an entirely different module.
With such a varied catalogue of qualifications on offer, it's always interesting to know that two very different journeys can bring you to the same destination. Emma’s Turner Pocock co-founder Bunny Turner passed through the halls of the Courtauld Institute of Art – world-renowned for its highly esteemed programmes in art history and curation – pursuing an early career in the art world before learning on the job with a high-end residential developer. The duo have since established a highly regarded interior design studio, and are approaching their 20th anniversary next year – built upon two rather different educational backgrounds and experiences.
A similar lesson – and two very different educations – can be found in the story of Veere Grenney and Natashe Greig of design studio Grenney Greig. Veere left university in New Zealand in the 1970s to travel the world (see his house in Tangier here), eventually landing on the Portobello Road, where he ran a stall, then a small shop, before training under designer Mary Fox Linton. His business partner Natasha Greig's academic credentials, however, include an MA in Interior Architecture at Chelsea College of Art.
So, where does this leave the next generation of budding interior designers? If the careers of some of the industry's most celebrated names have taught us anything, it's that there is no single, prescribed route into the profession. A degree might provide the technical foundations, a diploma the opportunity for a career change, or an apprenticeship the practical experience that no graduation gown could ever replicate.
But for those set on an academic path, where exactly does one begin? From the hallowed halls of London's most established art schools to specialist short courses designed for those with neither the time nor inclination to spend three years studying, we've rounded up some of the institutions worth knowing about.
The best interior design schools and courses:
Royal College of Art
- Location: South Kensington, London
- Fees: Interior Design MA from £16,050 for UK home students, Interior Design: Retail Futures short course £1,200
- Alumni: James Dyson, Tracey Emin, David Hockney, David Adjaye, Ben Kelly
- What to study: MA Interior design, Interior Design: Retail Futures (Short course), Teaching Spatial Design (Short course)
Inchbald School of Design
- Location: Belgravia, London
- Fees: Inchbald Diploma in Architectural Interior Design £36,100 full-time; online part-time diploma £17,065 over two years
- Alumni: Nina Campbell, Kelly Hoppen, Henrietta Spencer-Churchill, Lonika Chande
- What to study: Diploma in Architectural Interior Design, MA Architectural Interior Design, Wrexham Certificate in Interior Design and Decoration, Design Your Own Living Space
KLC School of Design
- Location: Bloomsbury, London
- Fees: BA (Hons) Interior Design £11,950 per year, full-time Diploma in Applied Interior Design £24,400
- Alumni: Emma Pocock, Rebecca Hughes, James Thurstan Waterworth, Tiffany Duggan
- What to study: BA (Hons) Interior Design, Diploma in Applied Interior Design, Certificate in Residential Interior Design
Chelsea College of Arts
- Location: Millbank, London
- Fees: BA (Hons) Interior Design £10,050 per year for UK home students
- Alumni: Steve McQueen, Anish Kapoor, Bo Fentum, Jobe Burns, Natasha Greig
- What to study: BA (Hons) Interior Design, BA (Hons) Interior and Spatial Design
Courtauld Institute
- Location: Somerset House, London
- Fees: BA History of Art £9,525 per year, MA History of Art £16,275 for UK home students
- Alumni: Bunny Turner, Rachel Chudley, Sir Nicholas Serota, Nicholas Cullinan, Jeremy Deller
- What to study: BA History of Art, MA History of Art, MA Curating, Graduate Diploma in the History of Art; MA Art and Business
