{"id":9619,"date":"2026-03-31T09:40:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/9619\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:40:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:40:07","slug":"the-professors-ten-meets-brandon-wen-royal-academy-of-fine-arts-antwerp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/9619\/","title":{"rendered":"The Professors: Ten Meets Brandon Wen, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brandon Wen<\/a>, creative director, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp<\/p>\n

Los Angeles-born Brandon Wen is a fashion designer and performance artist who trained at Cornell University<\/a> before arriving at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp<\/a>. He succeeded Walter Van Beirendonck<\/a> as creative director of the fashion department in 2022.<\/p>\n

How many students on average are in a cohort?<\/p>\n

In the master\u2019s, it\u2019s 17.<\/p>\n

What are the qualities\/skills you look for in your students?<\/p>\n

Generally, we don\u2019t accept a lot of people who haven\u2019t done the bachelor\u2019s [degree] here, because the master\u2019s is only one year. It ends up being a consulting sort of year. For the people we take, it\u2019s personality and character, like if you look at a portfolio and there\u2019s a clear point of view.<\/p>\n

While on the course, do your students develop an aesthetic, style or way of designing or thinking?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about what you\u2019re doing or saying that isn\u2019t already being said; your vision needs to be not only strong, but also personal. We\u2019re over the top. So sometimes it\u2019s hard for more minimalist profiles. But it\u2019s not because we\u2019re anti-minimalism. We expect a certain level of intensity and richness in the design. There need to be details that are well thought out. But it\u2019s about having a strong personal identity and making what isn\u2019t already made.<\/p>\n

What are the key challenges facing creative education?<\/p>\n

As politics gets more conservative, everything gets tighter, less flexible\u2026 sometimes modern thinking can hurt a certain freedom that is creativity. And by that, I mean the vagueness of not defining everything as it is. It\u2019s not a \u2018crack the whip\u2019 education anymore. You demand and expect a lot, but you\u2019re also guiding them. It\u2019s important that while you are adapting to sensitivities, you also understand there needs to be a challenge, because if there\u2019s no challenge, they don\u2019t grow. In the first year, I have a strict rule about drawing, it must be in a book or on paper. They can try things out digitally if they want. But what I\u2019m looking at in class, it has to be done by hand. If the student is presenting with an iPad, for example, they can show different options. They can undo if they\u2019ve forgotten something, they can Google, search it and pull it in; so many things happen that aren\u2019t decisions, just options. When you draw it in your book and you paint it red, you\u2019ve chosen that red, and you have to live with that choice. It demands more from you when it has to be physically there and your choice, your decision-making skills, actually grow, because then you say, \u201cOkay, shit, I drew this horrible red. I know next time I have to do it differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

What are your hopes for your students as they graduate?<\/p>\n

I would love to see space created for them. Because you have a lot of students who are talented and artistic and sensitive, and if they were to just go for a brand and make technical drawings, it would be such a depressing end for them. Is there a space where they could work or what brands can they work for? Should we have better relationships with them? Are there incubators we need to know about? I want them to be able to find the space to be the creatives that they are here.<\/p>\n

Photography by Lalo + Eva\u00a0and production by Sonya Mazuryk. Taken from 10 Magazine Issue 76 \u2013 CREATIVITY, CHANGE, FREEDOM \u2013 out NOW. Order your copy here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

@brandylaa<\/a><\/p>\n