Joe Ferry is a creative leader with an insatiable passion for design. He has a track record of defining and implementing award winning luxury brand’s products, interiors and experiences. Creating original and authentic, extraordinary experiences for distinguished global brands, within both aviation and hospitality, has been at the core of his career.
After graduating from the Royal College of Art, Joe became the Design Manager and Inventor of the aviation industry’s first ‘lie flat’ business class seat, that later became Virgin Atlantic’s flagship product and Joe’s first patented. In 2001 he became Head of Design at Virgin Atlantic.
On concluding 15 years with Virgin Atlantic, in 2010, Joe moved into the world of hotels, first as Senior Vice President of Design at the Intercontinental Hotels Group and in 2017 as Director of Art & Design for Belmond, LVMH’s boutique experience brand.
His passion for design and success in the aviation and hospitality industries has seen him lead teams to win over 40 international design awards and be inducted into Design Weeks “Hall of Fame” as well as himself being listed in Design Weeks “Hot 50”. He has judged on many prestigious design award panels including Design Week, Brand Impact, SBID, DBA and D&AD awards.
Joe served as a Visiting Professor and became an Honorary Fellow of Brunel University in 2010, the same year he was entered into A & C Black’s Who’s Who. Joe has held positions as Trustee and Board Member for the UK’s Design Council and as Non-Executive director of the D&AD.
He joined Brunel Design School in 2023. Defined as an “intrapreneur” by Sir Richard Branson in his book “Like A Virgin”, whether Joe is creatively directing products or interiors, deriving brand identities, partnering with film directors, ingenious artisans or teaching, his objective is always to inspire and delight.
