Alice Rawsthorn is the design critic of the International Herald Tribune. In her weekly Design column, published every Monday, Alice explores new directions in every area of design and its impact on our lives. Her column is syndicated to dozens of other newspapers and magazines worldwide.
A prominent public speaker and broadcaster on design and contemporary culture, Alice writes the Object Lesson column for the New York Times Magazine. She is a trustee of the Whitechapel Gallery in London, and a member of the national council 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 Alice was director of the Design Museum in London. During her directorship, the number of visits to the museum rose by 40%, participation in the education programme doubled and the Design Museum website became the world's most popular design site.
An honorary senior fellow of the Royal College of Art, Alice has 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 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 as well as the government's advisory panel on the BBC Charter Review. Before joining the board of Arts Council England in 2006, Alice was lead advisor to ACE on the visual arts for four years, and chaired the Turning Point Review of the Contemporary Visual Arts.
Alice has contributed essays to a number of books. She has also published an acclaimed biography of the fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, and a monograph of the work of the designer Marc Newson.