AMFI appoints LCF dean as new school director

Dutch fashion school the Amsterdam Fashion Institute (AMFI), announced earlier this week that it has appointed its new director to be fashion professional José Teunissen. The new director will assume her new position from March 1 2023, as per a press release shared by Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA), which AMFI is a part of.

Teunissen is currently the dean of the School of Design and Technology at the London College of Fashion (LCF), which is a part of the University of the Arts London (UAL), and also a professor in fashion theory.

In her position as dean at LCF, the fashion professional has implemented UAL’s equality, diversity and inclusivity policy in all aspects of the university organisation.

Her appointment as AMFI’s new director comes at a crucial time for the fashion institute. AMFI made the news in 2021 when students reported in the Dutch media (more information in this Dutch article) about the unsafe school culture. This was later confirmed by an objective investigation into the culture at the fashion programme.

Prior to working at LCF, she taught fashion design at Dutch art and design school ArtEZ.

Teunissen commented on her new role in a statement, saying: "The interesting thing about AMFI is that it’s a nationally and internationally acclaimed fashion institute that operates at the forefront of the industry, with a clear focus on sustainability and digitisation.”

“It seems important to me that AMFI maintains that position,” Teunissen continued, “based on a culture that values diverse talent and a variety of cultural backgrounds, and values empathy and cooperation above competition,” she concluded."

Ample experience in the field of fashion education and research

Apart from her work as dean at LCF, José Teunissen leads the Centre for Sustainable Fashion, one of the research centres at UAL. In addition, she has worked closely with European partner institutions to develop new educational methods in fashion technology and sustainability.

The Dutch fashion professional has more than 30 years of experience in the field of art education and -research and is also well known for her work as a curator for Dutch museums such as the Utrecht Central Museum.

As of March 2023, Teunissen will be taking over from the AMFI interim director Louise ter Kuile, who has been director of the institute since January 2022. In addition, the new director will work on research for the Fashion Research and Technology research group.