Sir John Sorrell

Sir John Sorrell CBE
John Sorrell, far left, at the London Design Festival
Personal details
Born	John Sorrell (1945-02-28) 28 February 1945 London, UK
Nationality	British
Occupation	Designer, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist

Sir John Sorrell CBE (born 28 February 1945) is a British designer, entrepreneur and philanthropist.

John Sorrell founded and ran the design business Newell and Sorrell with his wife Frances. He has been chair of the Design Council and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. In 1999 he set up the Sorrell Foundation and in 2003 he started the London Design Festival. Sorrell was appointed Chairman of University of the Arts London in August 2013. He is a trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum

Early life

Born in 1945 in an air-raid shelter during the Second World War, Sorrell is the son of a north London milkman. He studied commercial art at Hornsey School of Art (now called Hornsey College of Art) where he was taught by Bridget Riley among others. He also attended Saturday art classes which later inspired him set up the National Art & Design Saturday Club via his foundation the Sorrell Foundation.

Career

In 1964 he started his career briefly working for Michael Wolff at Wolff & Partners before starting his first business in Goodwin Sorrell. In 1971 he went back to work for Michael Wolff (graphic designer) and Wally Olins at Wolff Olins. In 1976 he left to start Newell & Sorrell with his wife Frances.

Newell and Sorrell was a brand and identity consultancy and clients included British Airways, Boots, WHSmiths and the Royal Mail. They merged the business with Interbrand in 1997, the business becoming Interbrand Newell and Sorrell. At the time Newell and Sorrell had over 100 staff.

The Sorrell Foundation

The Sorrell Foundation was set up in 1999 with the aim of inspiring creativity in young people. The Foundation has several activities the main one being the National Art & Design Saturday Club.

Since 2009 the National Art & Design Saturday Club allows children to learn architecture, ceramics, drawing, glassblowing, digital animation, millinery, photography, silversmithing, sculpture and woodcut at colleges on Saturday mornings. There are over 40 clubs teaching over 1,000 children.

London Design Festival

In 2003 Sorrell started the London Design Festival as an annual event to celebrate and promote London as the creative capital of the world. Since 2003 over 80 cities across the world have started design festivals.

Other philanthropic work

In 2011 Sorrell became a trustee of the Victoria & Albert Museum.

In August 2013 Sorrell became Chair of the Court of Governors of University of the Arts London. It is the largest university in Europe to specialising in art, design, fashion and the performing arts. UAL has six constituent colleges: Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins, Chelsea College of Art and Design, the London College of Communication, the London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Art.

He has been a long time campaigner for the benefits of creativity and design on the economy and has been involved in many government initiatives in this area. He is currently the UK Government Creative Industries ambassador.