Alice Rawsthorn is the design critic of the International Herald Tribune, the global edition of the New York Times. In her weekly Design column, published in the IHT every Monday, Alice explores new directions in every area of design and its impact on our lives. Her column is syndicated to other newspapers and magazines worldwide.
A prominent broadcaster and public speaker, Alice speaks at important international events including the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Alice is a trustee of the Whitechapel Gallery in London, and a member of the board of Arts Council England.
Born in Manchester, Alice graduated in art and architectural history from Cambridge University. She then became an award-winning journalist for the Financial Times, working as a foreign correspondent in Paris and pioneering the FT's coverage of the creative industries. From 2001 to 2006, she was director of the Design Museum in London.
An honorary senior fellow of the Royal College of Art in London, Alice has also served on numerous arts juries including the Turner Prize for contemporary art, the Stirling Prize for architecture, the British Council's selection panel for the Venice Architecture Biennale, the PEN History Book Prize, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, and the BAFTA film and television awards.
She was chair of the British Council's Design Advisory Group, and a member of the Design Council's board as well as of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Design and the government's advisory panel on the BBC Charter Review. Before joining the national board of Arts Council England in 2007, Alice was lead advisor on the visual arts to the Arts Council and chaired its Turning Point Review of the Contemporary Visual Arts.
Alice has contributed essays to a number of books, including monographs of the work of the designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec and Marc Newson, both of which are to be published in 2012. She has also written an acclaimed biography of the fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, and is to publish "Hello World", a book on the changing role of design in our lives, in November 2012.