A world of creative flair saluted at UCC

Fashion designer Don O’Neill; Cork-based Irish furniture designer Joseph Walsh; and art historian and author Nicholas Fox Weber were conferred with honorary doctorates at a ceremony in the Aula Maxima at UCC yesterday.

Mr O’Neill and Mr Walsh received degrees of doctor of arts, while Mr Weber received a degree of doctor of literature at the ceremony, which was presided over by the chancellor of the National Universities of Ireland (NUI), Maurice Manning, and the president of UCC, Michael Murphy.

Don O’Neill’s fashion label, Theia, is best known for its eveningwear collections and has had many celebrity advocates, such as singer Taylor Swift, TV personality Oprah Winfrey, and actress Natalie Portman, as well as former Irish president Mary MacAleese.