University College Cork to award honorary doctorates to three renowned creative minds
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University College Cork to award honorary doctorates to three renowned creative minds

UNIVERSITY College Cork will roll out the red carpet next month to honour three renowned creative minds at the pinnacle of their professions who are connected to the county.

Fashion designer Don O’Neill, furniture designer and maker Joseph Walsh and cultural historian, curator and philanthropist Nicholas Fox Weber are each to receive a UCC honorary doctorate.

Don O’Neill, a native of Ballyheigue in Co. Kerry, and the Creative Director of global label THEIA, will be conferred with a Doctor of Arts.

The fashion designer is known all over the world for his elegant and sophisticated eveningwear.

He has worked in London, Paris and New York, with a diverse range of prominent labels and individuals.

Acclaimed craftsman Joseph Walsh will also be conferred with a Doctor of Arts at the UCC ceremony due to take place on June 5.

Walsh founded his furniture studio and workshop in Riverstick, Co. Cork in 1999 and currently lives in Kinsale.

The self-taught designer and maker is lauded internationally for his extraordinary pieces, which are regularly exhibited at major art and design fairs - from the Oliver Sears Gallery and the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, to the Centre George Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York.

The third recipient of the UCC award is Nicholas Fox Weber.

A cultural historian, author, curator and philanthropist, Fox Weber has dedicated his life to understanding and sharing the visual arts.

Based in Connecticut, with roots in Co. Cork, the author is also executive director of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation.

He will be conferred with a Doctor of Literature at the UCC ceremony, in recognition of his achievements.