Ioana (she/her), is a queer Eastern European set and costume designer based in London. She works across theatre and film, building visual worlds that are rooted in politics, psychology, and lived experience.

She trained at Wimbledon College of Arts UAL (BA and MA in Theatre Design), and now teaches on the MA course there as well as Central Saint Martins and East 15 Acting School. She also runs guest sessions and creative workshops in places like the London Screen Academy. Teaching is an essential part of her practice—a two-way exchange that constantly recharges her creative approach.

Most of Ioana’s work sits in devised and physical theatre, often circling themes like power, identity, displacement, and survival. She tends to gravitate toward projects that amplify marginalised voices and challenge conventional forms. Long-term collaborators include sanctuary company PSYCHEdelight, Open Sky, and Turtle Key Arts.

In 2019, she was awarded the first Naomi Wilkinson Stage Design Award. She has designed across venues like Southwark Playhouse, Wilton’s Music Hall, Lyric Hammersmith, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Home Manchester and further afield with Figurteatret (Norway) and the Grand Théâtre (Luxembourg). A highlight was designing Charlie & Stan for Told By An Idiot, which toured internationally.

Ioana’s process is rooted in experimentation and collaboration often infused by chasing an aesthetic of contradiction: comic and uncanny, minimal yet emotionally charged, familiar but estranged. Symbolism often threads through the work, influenced by her fine art background and deep love of cinema.

She is also a trained Mental Health First Aider and holds a Carbon Literacy Certification. Her sustainable design for River Land with Theatre Alibi was featured in the Theatre Green Book as a case study in low-impact production alongside The National Theatre in Scotland and The Royal Shakespeare Company.