Scholarships and Bursaries
The Karun Thakar Fund
As a way of acknowledging Karun Thakar’s generosity in allowing Soane to draw inspiration from the textiles in his collection, we initiated The Karun Thakar Fund in collaboration with the V&A Museum.
Established in 2021 by Soane and anonymous donors, The Fund promotes materials-based, object-led learning, drawing on the collections of both the V&A and Karun Thakar and offers scholarships to student practitioners and researchers studying any aspect of Asian or African textile/dress design or history. In 2024, The Fund received a record number of applications, and the committee awarded 10 grants to projects across the world, from Uganda to Cambodia, Iran to Grenada.
Heritage Craft Association
Soane is proud to sponsor a bursary with the Heritage Craft Association to help safeguard some of our most endangered British craft skills. Heritage Crafts is a national charity who support and promote heritage crafts in Britain. The training bursary is targeted at trainees and prospective trainees experiencing financial hardship and would otherwise be prevented from pursuing a craft career as a result of the cost. In 2024 the bursary was awarded to Elliot Walker, who specialises in mouth-blown glass. Elliot is attempting to incorporate the making of mouth-blown flat glass in his practice – a currently extinct craft in the UK.
