After a long career as one of Australia’s best known interior designers, Michael Love is gifting a global perspective to the next generation of design students.
Australian interior designer Michael Love was a teenager the first time he travelled to Europe. When he stepped off the boat that transported him from Sydney to Naples — “in those days, we went by ship,” he says — his world turned upside down.
“Prior to that trip, I had a fairly isolated, typical upbringing here in Sydney.” Michael recalls, “I just couldn’t believe that this world existed in the way it did and how fabulous and inspiring it was.”
The legacy of that first voyage and the travel that Michael has done in the intervening years sits at the heart of what has been an incredible career. For the last 5 decades, he has been one of Australia’s best-known interior designers, working with clients and leading architects to create some of Sydney’s most beautiful interior spaces.
Now, he has made the remarkable decision to share his love of creativity and travel via a gift in his will to the UTS School of Design, Architecture & Building. Michael’s gift will enable talented design students to travel abroad and seek design inspiration from across the world. This is particularly important in a country like Australia – where students often miss out on the cross-pollination of ideas and creativity that can come from proximity to other design cultures.
“Travel has been so important in my life, and I hope that it would be important to the students who receive this support,” Michael says.
According to Professor Mark Evans, Interim Dean of the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, gifts like Michael’s offer far more than a plane ticket for young people seeking adventure. “Design is a truly global field,” he shares. “At UTS, we believe strongly in the value of international experiences as key to helping students find their creative voice.”
We are incredibly lucky to have donors like Michael who share that view and who give so generously in support of the next generation.
For Michael, the sentiment is far simpler. He has enjoyed a long and storied career doing what he loves most, and now, as an elder statesman of the profession, has the opportunity to pay it forward to future generations. “I think you give with your heart,” Michael says.
If what I’m giving can inspire a student the way it inspired me for my whole life, that will be thanks indeed.
Image caption: UTS Design students will benefit from an inspiring gift from Michael Love, one of Australia’s most renowned interior designers.
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