London, NYC, Toronto, LA

GMD has been catching up with some of our alumni to see where their career paths have led so far. Ana Lapa graduated from LCC 6 years ago and has since worked at studios in major international cities…

I’m a Portuguese designer at Perron Studios in Los Angeles, working across identity, retail and live experience. What’s most interesting on my desk right now is how AI is changing the first moves of a project. On a recent live project, we’ve been using AI to move from early renders of a space into lighting, atmosphere and movement studies, exploring ideas before the specialists are even in the room. They still come in, but we arrive with more to show them. The judgement about what’s worth making is still ours. I can’t talk about the project itself yet, but it’s been the most demanding and most rewarding thing I’ve worked on.

The rest of how I got here was curiosity. During LCC I set myself a quiet goal to live and work in the cities I was most curious about: London, New York, Toronto, and eventually LA. Along the way, Pentagram, Bruce Mau Design, and stints on projects like H&M Move. London taught me culture. New York taught me discipline. Toronto taught me community. LA, now, is teaching me that the boundaries of what design can touch are rarely where you’d expect.

The project I’ve been thinking about longest is a personal one. I grew up with big feet, could never find shoes that supported me, and later dealt with foot problems from wearing the wrong ones. I’ve been quietly working on what it would take to design beautiful shoes that actually take foot health seriously, and who would need to be in the room to make them.

GMD taught me to chase an idea before a visual. I still open every project that way, before I open any software. If I could pass one thing on to current students: say yes to the rooms you feel underqualified for, move if you can, and protect your taste. That last one is the only thing nobody else in the room has.”

Portfolio: www.analapa.work