Sarah Owens

Sarah Owens is an award-winning design educator and researcher whose work centres on social and anthropological aspects of visible language and visual cultures. In particular, she is interested in marginalised and hidden narratives, practices and epistemologies; in issues of alterity, affect and imagination; and in educating for uncertain times. Her work is driven by a belief in transcending the confines of disciplinary boundaries, in advocating for encounter and dialogue, and in working towards ways of being and knowing that resonate with the complexities of our contemporary existence.

She holds a Ph.D. in Typography and Graphic Communication from the University of Reading, a M.A.(RCA) in History of Design from the Royal College of Art/Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and a graduate diploma in Communication Design from the University of Applied Sciences Augsburg. In 2009, her dedication to the field was acknowledged when she was awarded a fellowship and artist residency at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, and more recently in 2021, when she received the prestigious Grand Prix of Design by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture for her long-standing and exceptional contribution to design education and research.