032 | UP-AND-COMING DESIGNERS
Laura Arroyo
Founder and Lighting Designer, Flou Lighting Design
Laura Arroyo is a citizen of the world. She is a lighting designer that has worked in the field for 13 years. Originally from a small portcity in northwest Mexico, she has lived in Mexico City, London, and Guadalajara. Projects have seen her work across USA, UK, Mainland Europe and Latin America with global teams, all of which has built up her international exposure and experiences as well as shape her perspective as a designer and “fuelled her passion for crafting visual experiences within the build environment”. “Some of the projects I’ve worked on have earned prestigious awards, including an Award of Excellence by the IALD, a Merit Award by the IES, a Gold Award by the Build Better Awards and various others by the Iberoamerican Lighting Design Biennial. “In 2022, I was one of 20 winners of the first edition of the Silhouette Awards. I have participated as a speaker alongside two of my mentors in ‘Luz 2022’, an annual industry event organised by the AADL in Argentina; at the ‘Encuentro Latinoamericano de Diseño’ by Palermo University, also in Argentina; and at SPOT POP-UP Lighting by Expo Lighting America (ELA) in Mexico. “At present, I’m an Associate member of the IALD, a Jr. Professional Member of the APDI in Spain, Community Creator in LxArch (Leaders for Architecture), and I lead my own creative studio: Flou Lighting Design. “At Flou, we use light to help restaurateurs and other F&B business owners attract and captivate their guests. We also teach our craft and our design process to other architects, interior designers and engineers that seek to provide lighting design solutions within their residential and commercial projects without depending on third parties.” Arroyo earned a Bachelor of Architecture from Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico and a Master of Arts degree in Theatre Design from the University of the Arts London. “No one in my family belongs to any of these industries (my mother studied business administration and my father did chemical engineering), so at the beginning everything was completely new for me,” she says. “During my university days, I also undertook various 35mm black and white film photography workshops that I consider a fantastic base for training my eye to observe light and reflect on how it interacts with objects, surfaces and both natural and built spaces. “Before my master’s studies, I also trained in different performance lighting design courses, which have highly influenced my approach to light as a design tool to sculpt spaces. Deepening in topics such as storytelling, theatrical atmospheres, scene design and transitions, plus participating in collaborative processes where practical solutions to unexpected situations need to be offered quickly has been especially useful in my current practice.” Back in 2010, Arroyo landed her first lighting design job. “[I was] with industry leaders that were not only experienced, but also enthusiastic to openly share their knowledge and expertise with me. The first five years working with them were crucial for my professional development as I was part of international teams delivering world-class work that resulted in happy clients and several industry awards and recognition. “Joining the design industry within the architectural lighting realm was a happy accident. I remember when I saw a job post from a ‘lighting design’ company looking for an architect to join their team, I wasn’t sure what it meant, but I immediately related it to my passion for photography – the art of creating images by capturing light. So, I sent my application, and the rest is history. “I never imagined the mesmerising world I would encounter in a discipline as specific as this one. So, joining the design industry wasn’t
anything as I expected, it was far better. Following this period, Arroyo went on to study and practice theatre design for five years in London alongside working on architectural lighting design projects. “These were exciting times where I had the opportunity to work with the design team of a National Theatre production starring Bryan Cranston and in the architectural lighting design for two large-scale entertainment venues in the UK and in the USA. “As exciting as this period was, it wasn’t sustainable in terms of my energy and focus per day. Besides, some of the projects I was working on also confronted me with questions about their impact on society and the environment, and questions about the kind of work that I actually wanted to develop. Long story short, I decided to take the leap and start my own practice in February 2020, when strange news about a virus in China was emerging... “Since then, building Flou has been a journey of maturity and growth, filled with satisfaction but by no means exempt of mistakes. It has required embracing risk and imperfection and cultivating a long-term vision. “So far, here I am, loving what I do together with my partner to help our clients create compelling experiences with light and see them achieve their business goals. “I am responsible for the business development and operations of Flou, while my partner oversees the admin and sales. “We provide specialised consulting to business owners, architects, and interior designers to develop lighting design solutions that seamlessly integrate with the overall vision and goals of their projects, usually working to tight deadlines and fixed budgets. We start with lots of questions to make sure we understand context, goals, and boundaries, then help them translate their vision into a lighting concept to finally land it into technical solutions (luminaire layouts, technical specifications, operation, or control criterion, etc.) that they can implement successfully with our guidance. “We also run an online residential lighting design course specifically developed for busy architecture professionals to acquire the necessary skills to design, plan and deliver schemes that exceed their clients’ expectations. Sharing my expertise through this programme has been way more rewarding than I initially expected, I get to closely support extraordinary individuals and I’m pushed to continuously question and improve my design process. “Both our consulting and training services are developed 100% remotely and this has allowed us to work with clients based in Spain, USA, and various Latin American countries, from Uruguay to Mexico. This diversity is one of the most enjoyable aspects of my work. “We’re now working to scale up and couldn't be more excited. However, starting her own practice was one of the biggest learning curves she’s had to professionally encounter. “While I have always felt confident about the value I can give through my thinking and my work, I lacked the essential business, marketing, and sales skills. In retrospect, it was a mad move to go independent in a foreign country without anticipating this, but fortunately I found the help I needed from fantastic mentors and a wonderful community of professionals with similar goals that now I have the privilege to take care of. “Throughout the past three years, I’ve learned to embrace imperfection when it’s needed and to cultivate a long-term view that makes it easier to navigate challenges, learn quickly from mistakes, adjust as needed and continue moving forward. “As a lighting designer, I understand the significant impact that lighting