The Inchbald School of Design

Europe’s first interior design school, The Inchbald School of Design, was set up in 1960 by Jacqueline Duncan who remains as principal. A world first occurred twelve years later when the Garden School was launched in 1972.

The school, with dual campuses at Eaton Gate and Eccleston Square, has a long established reputation for serious, practical, intensive training and attracts intelligent, educated and motivated individuals from the UK and abroad. The three term diploma courses cover every aspect of a designer’s work, from colour theory to business management and all projects and coursework is based on real life situations encountered in the world of interior and garden design work.

The school offers many different courses for students the longest being three years and the shortest one day lectures. 2007 saw the launch of the school’s first fully web-based course meaning that the Inchbald Diploma is achievable from anywhere in the world either stretched over 3 years or there is a fast-track option of eighteen months.

The school is perhaps most famous for its year long on-site Diplomas which are accredited by the University of Wales. The Diploma in Architectural Interior Design was the first course of its kind in Europe and has been running for 45 years. The course has been designed to enable students to study the professional skills of interior design at speed and in depth.

The Diploma in Garden Design is a comprehensive programme enabling students to enter garden design at a professional level. Students are introduced to design methods through mainly residential projects that increase in complexity as the course progresses.

By giving a first class training, Inchbald’s students, many of whom leave behind high powered jobs in the City, reap dividends in successful careers. Ex students Phillip Nixon and Marcus Barnett are prime exponents of the value of Inchbald’s training, quitting traditional military and city roles and enrolling on the Post Graduate Garden Design Course. After graduating in 2004 the duo took Gold at Chelsea 2005 and 2006.

Such is the quality of the tuition that Inchbald’s alumni include revered industry names such as Henrietta Spencer-Churchill, Stephen Ryan, Diana Yakeley, Christophe Gollut, Luciano Giubbilei, Zaha Hadid and Zeynep Fadillioglu.

Further Course information is available on www.inchbald.co.uk