Alexia Vela Akasaka is an interdisciplinary Brazilian designer born to a Bolivian mother and a Japanese father. Raised in São Paulo, Brazil, she moved to the UK in 2020 to pursue a foundation diploma in arts and design at Central Saint Martins. Following that, she attended the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London,  earning a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and Interdisciplinary Studies in 2024.

Alexia’s mixed heritage deeply informs her design work, where she explores how different cultural and ethnic identities blend, clash, and coexist in Brazilian contemporary culture. This is often expressed in her work through shape and form as a subtle cue to explore experiences and the process of self-discovery, which are brought through quiet references to people and moments lived interwoven within fluid shapes.

1. Where were you born and where are you from ?

I was born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil.

2. What is your first memory connected to the art world ?

My father’s studio in São Paulo.

3. Have you always worked in the art/design field, and what led you to the design creation ?

Yes.

4. What led you to the design creation ?

I ask myself this a lot. I wonder why I never outgrew it because there were many moments I wanted to do something maybe more predictable or stable. I think it’s because the more I was exposed to this world—and not just design, but the fashion industry, film industry, and the arts in general—it always fascinated me. It was also reassuring, I guess, that it helped me get through school. I was very introverted so it helped me a lot growing up having something creative to do. Eventually, I just kept going and continued to develop my connection to this world. Now I think it’s definitely become a way for me to channel energy into something—I tend to overthink a lot, so creating things just gives me a space to be able to develop these thoughts and rationalise them.

5. How would you describe your creative process and it influences ?

My creative process consists of a lot of overthinking. It’s rarely smooth, but it tends to begin with a phase where I spend a long time just sitting with an idea, not really doing anything with it other than gathering research. I’ll then either sculpt it, draw it, or do some collage and just keep building on it for months until I’m ready to develop a final piece and take it to the foundry. I think I’m very influenced by day to day experiences, literature, and just contemporary culture in general. One of my biggest influences at the moment is Gloria Anzaldúa’s book Borderlands/La Frontera and her exploration of mixed cultural identity within Latinx experiences.

6. Could you describe a typical day of your work ?

I don’t think I have one.

7. Why did you choose the specific materials you work with ?

I really enjoy the materiality of metal and its permanent and stable qualities. Having been
exposed to the foundry process since I was very young, I also have a very big respect for the traditional artisanal techniques involved.

8. What are the technical particularities of your creations ?

At the moment the main technical aspect is the lost-wax casting method in the foundry. I
sculpt by hand the model, which allows me to express and experiment with the material
hands-on and then take the final model to the traditional casting process to translate it into a final metal piece. This also allows me to think more critically about materiality and the nuances of the making process beyond the 2D and 3D sketches.

9. What advices could you give to beginning artists who would like to create sculptural design works ?

Be patient and resilient. In my experience, it’s not an easy field to work in, especially if you value stability and routine like I do. You’ll also probably receive a lot of rejection, though you might be lucky and be an exception. However, if you are not the exception, remember to take it lightly and have fun, it’s not supposed to feel like ‘work’ all the time!

10. If your works had to belong to a design movement, in which one would you define it ?

I’d like to think it fits into the Brazilian contemporary design movement.

11. What designers and artists have influenced you ?

I think my father will always be my biggest and constant underlying influence but this question is tough for me because it always varies and I think contemporary art influences me way more than design. I can say though that recently I’ve been very inspired by many, if not all, the contestants at the LOEWE Craft Prize, in particular Heechan Kim.

12. What contemporary designers do you appreciate ?

Irmãos Campana—or Campana Brothers in English! I really admire their trajectory, and I
appreciate how their work always sheds light on pressing environmental and socio-economic issues we face in Brazil. Recently, I’ve also been really inspired by designers who specialise in woodworking, like Eleanor Lakelin and Ernst Gamperl.

13. What contemporary artists (in any kind of art) have you been inspired by ?

It’s hard to choose only a few, but at the moment, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Gloria Anzaldúa, Cildo Meireles, Wolfgang Tillmans, Do Ho Suh, Maria BartuszovÁ, El Anatsui, Zaha Hadid, and Ai Weiwei.

14. If you had to summarize your creations in one word or sentence, what would it be ?

Exploring themes of identity, culture, kinship, relationships, and friendship.

PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE
(The Proust Questionnaire is a set of questions answered by the French writer Marcel Proust.
Other historical figures who have answered confession albums are Oscar Wilde,
Karl Marx, Arthur Conan Doyle, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Cézanne…)

1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Summer, a beach in Brazil, days before New Year’s, with friends and family.

2. What is your greatest fear?

Losing one of my loved ones.

3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

Self-doubt.

4. What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Ignorance.

5. Which living person do you most admire?

My mother.

6. What is your greatest extravagance?

Coffee.

7. What is your current state of mind?

Somewhere between calm, confused, optimistic, and a bit lost.

8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

Nonchalant.

9. What is the quality you most like in a man ?

Transparency.

10. What is the quality you most like in a woman ?

Confidence.

11. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

–

12. Which talent would you most like to have?

To have any kind of musical talent. Ideally singing but I’d be happy if I was good at guitar or drums.

13. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I’d be more flexible.

14. What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Creating a life I like in London from scratch.

15. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?

A dog.

16. Where would you most like to live?

London.

17. What is your most treasured possession?

Handmade jewellery by my dad.

18. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

Trying to survive in a war zone.

19. What is your favorite occupation?

Doctor.

20. What is your most marked characteristic?

Not sure.

21. What do you most value in your friends?

Reliability.

22. Who are your favorite writers?

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Isabel Allende.

23. Who is your hero of fiction?

Ifemulu from Americanah.

24. Which historical figure do you most identify with?

Zaha Hadid.

25. Who are your heroes in real life?

My father, my mother, my grandma, and my two closest and longest friends.

26. What are your favorite names?

I don’t think I have any. Maybe Milla?

27. What is it that you most dislike?

Entitlement.

28. What is your greatest regret?

Caring too much about other people’s opinions.

29. How would you like to die?

In my bed at old age.

30. What is your motto?

I don’t really have any but I saw this one the other day that’s nice: What I seek, is seeking me.