Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design

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Central Saint Martins - Southampton Row, Holborn

Central Saint Martins (ex-St Martins) in Charing Cross Road. (January 2006)

Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (also called Central Saint Martins, Saint Martins or simply known as CSM amongst students and staff) is one of the leading colleges of art and design in England. It is part of the University of the Arts London along with Chelsea College of Art & Design, London College of Communication (LCC, previously London College of Printing), London College of Fashion (LCF), Wimbledon College of Art and Camberwell College of Arts. It was given university status in 2004 (prior to this the cumulation of the 5 colleges excluding Wimbledon was known as "The London Institute"). Wimbledon became part of the University in 2006.

Central Saint Martins was created in 1989 from the joining of Central School of Art & Design (founded in 1896) and St Martin's School of Art (founded in 1854). For most of the 1960s and 1970s Saint Martins was acknowledged as the leading London art school, producing the likes of Gilbert and George (who met there) and Richard Long as well as employing influential artists such as Anthony Caro and Barry Flanagan as staff, and was a meeting point for many Punk and New Wave bands. Indeed, the school was immortalized in Pulp's song "Common People", as the place where the woman who caught Jarvis Cocker's eye (along with Jarvis himself) studied. It was also the site of The Sex Pistols' notorious first ever "gig" (notorious because some say they were actually thrown out after 5 minutes). On 6 November 2005, the college received a Blue plaque commemorating this event's 30th anniversary.

Central Saint Martins remains one of London's most revered art institutions with strong research and teaching departments in Fine Art, Fashion, Graphics, 3D design and Performance. It has undergone a cascade of recent developments, having already swallowed up both Drama Centre London in 1999 and the Byam Shaw School of Art in 2003 prior to the University of the Arts London's conception. Central Saint Martins has an internationally recognised research profile as rated in the recent government Research Assessment Exercise; it forms links between the arts, communication, fashion and design with a range of other disciplines leading to research and enterprise projects through its Innovation Centre; it employs graduates on international design consultancy projects through the Design Laboratory; it is one of the world's largest providers of art and design short-course training; and it has registered museum status for its contemporary and museum collections.