How Dublin Works: Elisa Capitanio

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Elisa Capitanio is a UX Designer at social media intelligence agency Storyful, and also runs her own independent abstract art business.

She came to Ireland nine years ago completely by chance. Living in Italy, she longed for a change of pace, so she left her home of Bergamo and moved to London. Dublin came calling with an opportunity for Elisa to try her hand at being a web designer, so she packed her bags for a second time and moved country again. Since then, Ireland has become her permanent home and has inspired her art.

She chose Dublin for its fast market and inspiring tech community.

Of working in Dublin’s tech industry, Elisa said:

“I love how people are always open to talk about what they do. Something that definitely helped me a lot in the beginning when I didn’t know anybody is that there are loads of different cultures, and people [in Dublin] help each other a lot.”

Elisa works as a Lead Product Designer in Storyful. She leads a team of 4 talented designers, who work on designing internal and client-facing applications that allow analysts and journalists to understand online content better. The team recently released a proprietary design system which supports other internal projects and the design of reports and documentation for clients. Storyful was initially founded by former Prime Time journalist Mark Little (who now runs another successful tech startup, Kinzen, with Áine Kerr). News Corp acquired it in 2013, and since then the company has become more international and diverse. While it’s staying true to its Irish roots by being headquartered in Dublin, it has outposts in New York, London and Sydney.

Elisa lives in the countryside and commutes to her office on Baggot Street by train from North County Dublin every day. During this time, she works on her art business, answering emails, writing newsletters and uploading social media content. She also takes time each day to watch the sunrise as she travels, as it inspires her and gives her a buzz to create.

On the weekend she paints – a lot! She uses natural sponges to create her unique colour gradients that resemble the sky, which is her favourite thing about Ireland. Elisa believes it’s much closer than any other city she has been to. She paints mostly with blue shades, taking time for each colour to settle on the canvas, embracing the sponges and their forced repetitive movements.

Elisa believes that creativity is the force that makes you wonder, and painting makes her come alive!

Elisa is very active on Instagram where she posts daily updates about her process, new paintings, promotions and everything else she’s working on. Along with following her on social, you can also learn more by visiting her website, where she sells her work and posts updates about art shows she’ll be exhibiting at.

Laurence is a writer, cyclist and gardener. He’s always finding new things to like about Dublin, the city where’s he’s spent most of his life.

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