SOUPHATRA XAYPANYA (süp - h?t - tä / s? – pa-n-yä) : After her family barely escaped communist Laos, she was born in a refugee camp in Thailand, in 1979. Her family then moved to Connecticut in 1980 where she was raised. Her passion for art and design has been immensely apparent since her adolescence. She later received her B.F.A from The Pratt Institute in New York, in 2002 majoring in Communication and Graphic Design. She has worked with leading design firms including BMW's design studio in New York, working on such projects as architecture, material, product and graphic design trend research. In 2005 she moved to Maui, Hawaii where she now resides, to work with ACME Studio. She finds inspiration in fashion, art, design, her photography, and most recently, product design and development.