The Royal College of Art and The Virgil Abloh Foundation have announced MA Textiles student Tyreis Holder as the recipient of the 2024 RCA Virgil Abloh Scholarship.

Having joined as an Honorary Visiting Professor in 2020, the late designer held a close relationship with the prestigious fashion school and became an active advocate for collaboration and ingenuity within the RCA community. This scholarship is aimed to recognise Virgil’s support for education, his career-long ethos of using his practice to create social change and his position as a champion for equality of opportunity across the creative industries.

The award includes a full scholarship, including maintenance support, and is reserved for Black British students from programmes in the School of Design. The annual scholarship applies to all areas of the RCA School of Design postgraduate study including Fashion, Textiles, Design Products, Service Design and Intelligent Mobility.

“Virgil Abloh is a creative visionary, who empowered and inspired a generation of Black youth to embrace the limitless potential of their creativity and where it can take you,” says Holder on receiving the scholarship. “Being awarded this scholarship is a real honour, I feel truly blessed to have the opportunity to further refine my art practice by pushing the boundaries of my creativity, to honour my Caribbean heritage and textiles roots, and contribute to the community with recognition from the Virgil Abloh Foundation.”  

The RCA Virgil Abloh Scholarship was established in 2022 with the support of Shannon Abloh, the late designer’s wife, and is supported by The Virgil Abloh Foundation. “This scholarship embodies Virgil and our family’s longstanding mission to open doors, break barriers and increase access for young people, and the foundation’s commitment to build a more equitable and inclusive industry for diverse youth,” she says. “The RCA is a place to grow as an artist and a thinker and we are pleased to continue our partnership supporting the next generation of Black artists and designers.”  

A tufted robe, headpiece and sliders made by Tyreis Holder, worn as part of Somerset House Studios AGM 2020 performance.

Photography courtesy of Jamila Hardy and the Virgil Abhol Foundation.