Ken Leung.
Director Ken Leung is the creative visionary behind our 2025 alumni video.
Born in Kuala Lumpur and raised in Perth, the Curtin Bachelor of Arts alum, is now back home in WA, rediscovering his passion for nature and community.
With a career spanning art direction, digital experience and graphic design, Ken was most recently the Global Creative Director at UNIQLO, driving designer collaborations in New York.
A seasoned pro when it comes to breathing life and emotion into still and moving images, Ken has an extensive background in the fashion industry, working with major fashion brands like DKNY.
Like many projects before, Ken tapped into his multi-disciplinary skills to produce a unique, innovative, and engaging video, that alumni around the world would be proud of.
With a degree in graphic design and a minor in multimedia, Ken admits his love for fashion and film was an evolving passion.
“I’ve got creativity in my family,’’ he said.
“My grandmother was a fashion designer and my aunt’s a fashion designer.
“My dad also had an arts and craft supply business growing up, so I guess you could say I naturally gravitated to this industry.
“On weekends I wasn’t the kid out playing sports, I was in my room drawing logos and sketching.”
Originally starting in fashion (magazines) Ken then moved to New York where he started filming campaigns with brands like Calvin Klein and Belvedere Vodka.
His impressive portfolio has seen him shooting campaigns against the mountainous backdrop of Bhutan in the Himalayas to the bustling streets of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.
Ken said one of his most notable projects was being brand leader for one of the world’s largest fashion conglomerates LVMH (Moët Hennessy and Louis Vuitton).
“Filming has been a natural progression from fashion and still images,’’ he said.
“It combines everything I love, creativity, music and editing.”
From working with icons such as tennis great Roger Federer and supermodel Bella Hadid – to working with leading Curtin alumni – Ken said this latest project was both a rewarding and nostalgic experience.
“It was fascinating seeing what my fellow alumni are up to. And just being back on campus brought back so many happy memories,’’ he said.
“Tara, Leif, and Emma are such inspiring alumni. I really hope I was able to capture the emotion and passion behind the amazing work they do.”
Ken said evoking emotion was key to any successful film.
“I tried at every opportunity to inject as much ‘heart’ into the alumni video to draw the audience in and leave that lasting impression,’’ he said.
“A great film can change the way you feel about life.”
Ken said connecting with his former university had been an absolute pleasure.
“It was great to see everything come full circle and to have the opportunity to connect with Curtin again after so many years,’’ he said.
“The day we filmed on campus was actually O-Day and I was transported back to my O-Day all those thousands of years ago… I remember so clearly sitting under the pine trees with the colourful bean bags.”
From the get-go, Ken said he was cognisant to reflect Curtin’s sense of community and togetherness throughout the video.
“Everything from the footage to the music, needed to feel uplifting, and sometimes that’s not easy to do in just 30 secs,’’ he laughed.
“In the opening scene, we have a graduate lifted onto her friend’s shoulders symbolising that feeling of being on top of the world.
“When she looks directly into the lens it’s in that moment that viewers are invited in as the sixth friend holding her up – further reinforcing the videos message ‘Together we rise.”
From capturing Tara and the Seagals having fun the water, to walking alongside Leif and the orangutans in the forests of Borneo – Ken hopes the alumni video inspires others as much as it did him.
“The poignant moment for me in the video is when Emma wraps the Aboriginal flag around her shoulders. This was a nod to that famous footage of Cathy Freeman at the Olympics when she wrapped the Australian and Aboriginal flags over her shoulders,’’ he said.
“I really hope this film resonates with not only new graduates, but those who may have graduated from Curtin years ago.
“And like me, I hope they too get that same nostalgic feeling of connecting to Curtin and the many good times experienced at uni.”
With a budding film industry here in Perth, Ken said he was excited to see what the future held.
“I’m really looking forward to working on projects which showcase our beautiful state of WA to the rest of the world,’’ he said.
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