Mr Joe Ferry
Senior Lecturer

Summary

Joe Ferry is a creative leader with an insatiable passion for design. He has a track record of defining and implementing award winning luxury brand’s products, interiors and experiences. Creating original and authentic, extraordinary experiences for distinguished global brands, within both aviation and hospitality, has been at the core of his career.

After graduating from the Royal College of Art, Joe became the Design Manager and Inventor of the aviation industry’s first ‘lie flat’ business class seat, that later became Virgin Atlantic’s flagship product and Joe’s first patented invention (one of 14 now filed). In 2001 he became Head of Design at Virgin Atlantic, leading the relaunch of their Upper Class experience, including the first fully flat business class seat with direct aisle access and its unique aircraft cabin interiors. He was creative director for the airline’s worldwide business class lounges, uniforms, identity, livery and brand reaffirmation.

On concluding 15 years with Virgin Atlantic, in 2010, Joe moved into the world of hotels, first as Senior Vice President of Design at the Intercontinental Hotels Group and in 2017 as Director of Art & Design for Belmond, LVMH’s boutique experience brand. At Belmond he directed multi-award winning interior designs onboard the iconic Venice Simplon-Orient-Express train and renowned hotels in the Caribbean, Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Italy.

His passion for design and success in the aviation and hospitality industries has seen him lead teams to win over 40 international design awards and be inducted into Design Weeks “Hall of Fame” as well as himself being listed in Design Weeks “Hot 50”. Joe has spoken and chaired at several significant international design conferences such as The Economist’s Summit, IoD, PDMA, BODW, DMI and AI Expo. He has also judged on many prestigious design award panels including Design Week, Brand Impact, SBID, DBA and D&AD awards.

Being an alumni of Brunel himself, Joe continued to have a strong relationship with the University whilst still in industry. He served as a Visiting Professor and became an Honorary Fellow of Brunel University in 2010, the same year he was entered into A & C Black’s Who’s Who. Joe has held positions as Trustee and Board Member for the UK’s Design Council and as Non-Executive director of the D&AD. In addition, he has sat on the Cabinet Office's Innovation Council and both Brunel and Loughborough Universities’ Advisory boards.

Joe’s connections to education include being a visiting tutor at the Royal College of Art, giving lectures at the London Business School and masterclasses at the Design Thinkers Academy, London as well as giving guest lectures at many renowned Universities. He has a soft spot for the New Designers Exhibition, London and has supported it by frequently sponsoring and judging the student awards. He firmly believes the award he won there, as a Brunel Graduate, was a springboard for his career.

Defined as an “intrapreneur” by Sir Richard Branson in his book “Like A Virgin”, whether Joe is creatively directing products or interiors, deriving brand identities, partnering with film directors, ingenious artisans or teaching, his objective is always to inspire and delight.

Qualifications

Master of Arts, The Royal College of Art - Industrial Design Engineering

Bachelor of Science (Hons), Brunel University - Industrial Design

Diploma of Imperial College - Industrial Design Engineering

Honorary Fellow of Brunel University

Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts

Responsibility

Module Leader & Tutor - Fundamentals of Innovation DM2700 & DM2800

Module Leader & Tutor - Design Innovation & Management Process DM3801

Tutor - Major Project DM3820/3803/3804

Module Leader & Tutor - Design Creativity and Aesthetic Awareness DM5561

Assessor - MSc Integrated Product Design - Dissertation Project DM5551

NSS Champion