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People from many different countries live, study and work in Eindhoven. Every week, E52 has a talk\u00a0with an international about what brought them here and what life is like in Eindhoven.<\/p>\n
Name: Leo Orta
\nCounty of origin: France
\nStudy: Bachelor Leisure at Design Academy Eindhoven<\/p>\n
If we talk about internationals, Leo is definitely one of them. He grew up in Paris with English and Argentinian parents, studied in London and Brussels and will go to the United States this fall for his study. He likes to explore the world, that\u2019s for sure. We meet up with Leo at the Temporary Art Center (TAC). \u201cI share an atelier with three friends here. I actually use it more as a storage space. It\u2019s convenient because it\u2019s close to the academy, but it\u2019s too small with four people. Getting my own space is difficult. I have to wait until someone else leaves. This will do for now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before Leo started at the Design Academy he studied Graphic Design in London and Brussels. \u201cIt turned out those studies weren\u2019t right for me, it was to narrow in the design field. I took one year to prepare my portfolio for the academy in Eindhoven. I had to organise my work and make a balanced portfolio of my experimental and conventional work. That year, I\u00a0gave myself an assignment every week. My portfolio was good enough and I got in.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the first year at the academy you get to try out everything. It is a good orientation year. I found out during, that I didn\u2019t want to work in furniture design as I thought I would. My strength is in storytelling or in activist design and social design. I look at what is going on around me and in the rest of the world and try to find answers as a designer. The project I did with my fellow student Victor Miklos, got selected by the academy to be shown at the Salone del Mobile in Milan. The project is called \u2018UNIFORM, a performance about social issues, like clothes consumption and social media\u2019. It challenges the invisible links between society, identity, and exposure \u201d<\/p>\n
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