Parnaoz (Parna) Lapiashvili was one of the most renowned representatives of the 20th century Georgian scenic and film production design. He designed more than 100 theatre, opera and ballet performances and was a designer of the popular Georgian films Keto and Kote by Vakhtang Tabliahsvili (together with Joseph Sumbatashvili in 1948), Tsiskara by Sergo Tchelidze (together with Joseph Sumbatashvili in 1955), The Times have Changed Now by Mikheil Chiaureli (together with Serapion Vatsadze) and The Life of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza by Rezo Chkheidze (1989).
He graduated from the Tbilisi Academy of Arts in 1941 and started his career in Marjanishvili Theatre (1943-1945) as a stage designer where he worked in collaboration with the other outstanding set designer Joseph Sumbatashvili. In 1946-1960 he started to work in Rustaveli Theatre as an Art-Director. Among the plays he designed the most celebrated are David the Builder by Levan Gotua (together with Joseph Sumbatashvili in 1946), Oedipus Rex by Sophocles (1956), Hamlet by Shakespeare (1960), Pirosmani by Guga Nakhutsrishvili (1962), and The Three-Penny Opera by Berthold Brecht. He was also very prolific in the field of scenic design for the opera and ballet performances in the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre.
Within the years he headed the Set Design Studio at the Tbilisi Academy of Arts, which nowadays is named after him.