Student Spotlight | Lukas Mason

Meet Lukas, a first-year Hair, Make-up and Prosthetics student at The London College of Fashion.

Lukas is a first-year Hair, Makeup and Prosthetics student at The London College of Fashion. He is from Cambridge and wanted to move to London to be right in the centre of the many industries that are looking for hair and makeup artists. You can see his work at @lukasmasonprosthetics. 

What are you studying and what made you want to come to UAL? 

I chose my course because I knew that the change would be good for me. Before starting college this year, I honestly had no experience in anything my degree teaches. I’ve always been an artist, but never like this. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I finished my A levels, but I did an art foundation year back home that helped me explore makeup, hair and prosthetics as more of an abstract art form. And it’s great to have been able to develop that through more of a professional lens this year. UAL has been the best place for it because of how rigorous and professional they are with us, which is so important in an industry like Makeup where Health and Safety is so vital.

Why did you choose to study Hair, Makeup and Prosthetics?

I realised how bored I was working a ‘normal job’ when I was working last year, and all the other possible degrees I was considering all led into fields I knew I wouldn’t thrive in. The more I thought about it, the more being a Hair and Makeup Artist suited me. I was struggling a lot with my ADHD, and I knew I needed a career that would always keep me stimulated and give me new things to focus on all the time. There’s always so much you can improve across the three central disciplines, and I’m so excited to keep working on all these different skills.

What mediums are you interested in?

Inside the degree, I find myself most excited by the wig-making components. I have a background in sculpture already, which is nice because it means I have a skillset I can fall back on in regards to making prosthetics. But I’ve never done anything with hair before, and I love the intricacies and variety of techniques within wig-making as a discipline. So far this year we’ve spun handmade hair wefts, begun the basics of knotting individual hairs for lace fronts and postiche pieces, and even started whipping together lace foundations for fully handmade wigs.

Who inspires you?

I take a lot of inspiration from the photographer Zhong Lin. A lot of her shoots are beautifully surreal bordering on repulsive, and she works with some amazing makeup artists to distort her model’s bodies through a fashionable lens. Other than her, within my industry, I’m hugely inspired by Sophie De Oliveira Barata who founded The Alternative Limb Project and makes sculptural limb prosthetics that double as practical works of art that represent the people they’re attached to. I studied her work at foundation, and seeing that she attended the very course I’m doing now is what inspired me to take it.

What are you working on currently?

Recently I’ve worked with a couple of different Photography students and I’m very excited to be posting new photos soon from those shoots. I also had the pleasure of working with a wonderful team of third-year film students at LCC on ‘Ren’s Courage’, a graduate film coming out this summer. It was amazing working with such a professional and passionate team, and I can’t wait to see the Hair, Makeup and Prosthetic’s team hard work showcased on the big screen!

What is your favourite thing about the course?

So far it has definitely been the collaborative opportunities. Over 9 months I’ve had the pleasure of working with a diverse range of Fashion Photographers, Stylists, Film students, Creative Directors, Models and Costume designers- not to mention all the other lovely HMP artists I’ve been able to learn from. Everyone is so eager to produce work everyone can be proud of, and it’s exciting to be in those teams where everyone is working so hard to perfect their disciplines. The college and wider university are full of opportunities and projects, and I’ve got even more things lined up in the next few months. Hair, Makeup and Prosthetics is a discipline that can’t exist without a camera or audience, and there are so many creative outlets for the art form to be expressed through.

Want to know more? Get in touch: 

E: hallslife@arts.ac.uk

T: +44 (0)20 4586 3219

Instagram: UAL_HallsLife

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