Iris Dunbar was honoured with the Henry Pugh Lifetime Achievement Award 2025 by MIX INTERIORS Magazine at an awards ceremony in London last night (26 June 2025).

Iris Dunbar is a renowned interior educator who has influenced generations of interior designers throughout her career whilst keeping to her deeply held modernist principles.

Iris has nurtured the talents of many of today’s prominent UK and international community of creators and continues to do so through her mentoring programme.

A pioneer of Interior Design in its modern form, Iris Dunbar studied Interiors within the School of Architecture at Dundee University.

As practitioner, educator, former President of the British Institute of Interior Design and former President of The International Federation of Interior Designers and Architects, her aim is to establish Interior Design as an essential discipline within the built environment industry.

Founding Director of The Interior Design School since 1991, she now mentors alumni and is on advisory boards to continue to promote the interiors profession.

Combining teaching and practising over her career has informed her strongly held view that Interior Design should be taught within a professional framework, and that we need designers from all walks of life to make the industry a rich and relevant sector.

Iris began her career as an Interior Designer with Building Design Partnership, an interdisciplinary practice.

Over the years she has had her own company combining Graphic, Interior and Exhibition design working on commercial commissions.

The Henry Pugh Award recognises a lifetime of achievement in the field of design; honouring a figure who has made a significant contribution to the creative landscape.