Student Spotlight: Leo Belchetz

We asked Leo about his experience at London Fields Design School.

He says:

"I studied architecture at university, but life took me down a different career path. When I decided to return to the architectural sphere around 6 years ago, I realised that software capabilities would be essential, which led me to enrol with London Fields Design School.

The AutoCAD skills I had picked up had remained dormant for around 15 years, so I took both introduction and advanced units. This returned to me reasonably quickly, though I picked up many techniques I still use in my current job. Having browsed various job postings, I realised that Revit had become an integral industry tool, so I also took both introduction and advanced units in that too. Being an entirely new software to me, and one that can be less than intuitive at times, this took longer to pick up, and I supplemented my units with home study. However, it wasn’t until I had used the software in practice that I became conversant in all its capabilities and quirks – and I am still learning new things about the way it works all these years later!

I was put in touch with Pritchard Themis Lighting Design by a staff member at LFDS, and was subsequently offered a position which made use of the skills I had acquired in AutoCAD and Revit. Soon after starting my roles, I took further units with LFDS in SketchUp, Adobe Photoshop and InDesign, all of which I use regularly in my day-to-day design and presentation work, along with some specialist lighting software. I remain with the company more than 5 years later, and have recently been given the title of Senior Lighting Designer.

My studies with LFDS gave me the platform to kickstart this part of my career, and many skills which I rely upon to this day. I’m very grateful to the team there and would thoroughly recommend the school."

Well done to Leo on his success, it's an honour to be part of his journey into a career in lighting design.