RCA and Virgil Abloh Foundation announce 2024 scholarship recipient

The Royal College of Art (RCA), together with the Virgil Abloh Foundation, have named MA Textiles student Tyreis Holder as the next recipient of the Virgil Abloh Scholarship.

Launched in 2022, the initiative was set up following the passing of the late designer, who had built a relationship with the RCA as an honorary visiting professor in 2020. The scholarship was therefore established with support from Shannon Abloh, the designer’s wife, as well as The Virgil Abloh Foundation.

After having a short, yet impactful association with the college, the namesake scholarship programme was introduced with the mission of recognising Abloh’s “support for education, his career-long ethos os using his practice to create social change and his position as a renowned champion for equality of opportunity across the creative industries”, as stated by the RCA.

Last year’s scholarship had been awarded to Oghenerume Egbeniyoko, who will continue to receive support into his second year on the RCA’s MA/MSc Innovation Design Engineering programme.

Meanwhile, the new recipient, Holder, will begin under the backing of the scholarship at the start of the next academic year.

In an Instagram post, the RCA said the scholarship, which also includes maintenance support, is “awarded to extraordinarily talented but financially restricted Black British students from postgraduate programmes in the School of Design”.