I was born in Kraków, Poland, but I spent most of my formative years — and the ones I remember most vividly — in La Gomera.
Alumni Stories – Lakis Sobyra
Where were you born?
Where do you live?
In Barcelona.
What did you study at Elisava?
Where do you work?
I work at SMLXL.
What has your professional journey been like?
Before moving to Barcelona, I interned and worked at Fran Monroy’s studio in Tenerife. Around the same time I started the master’s program, I landed an internship at Folch, which I balanced with my studies until March, when I switched to a part-time position. After finishing the master’s, I moved into a full-time role. Shortly after, I decided to apply to SMLXL, a studio that had recently been founded at the time.
What is design to you?
To me, design is a tool for enhancement. It can create a dialogue between a client and their audience, make spaces easier to use, or frame and elevate an artist’s work. Just as importantly, it can beautify our lives: when there’s too much visual cacophony around us, design can bring calm, and in the opposite case, it can create a sense of rebellion.
Who inspires you professionally?
I’m lucky to be surrounded by people who constantly inspire and surprise me. What I admire most is perseverance, unconventional career paths, and above all, maintaining a healthy balance between confidence and humility. Among the people I admire are my partner, Gonçalo Salgado, my bosses Anna Berbiela, Guillem Casasús, and Javier Arizu, as well as my siblings, Magda and Takis.
How would you define your time at Elisava?
Thanks to Elisava, I was able to connect with a huge number of professionals in the field. Of course, I also learned a lot, but without a doubt, those connections were the most valuable thing I gained. Without them, entering the professional world would have been exponentially more difficult.
What has impacted you the most from what you learned at Elisava?
What impacted me the most was learning how to keep up with the pace of contemporary graphic design. Having to give 100% both in class and during my internships made me much more efficient and agile when making creative decisions.
One piece of advice:
Try to support the people around you as much as possible. I feel like there’s a lot of competition in the design world, and even when we’re genuinely happy for our peers, many people still struggle to actively show support. One hand washes the other, and together they wash the face.
A future challenge:
I’d like to learn how to lead projects of different scales and delegate tasks effectively, with the goal of eventually moving into a creative direction role.