a shop

Sorry for not giving you the heads up. It took a while to get in, and the first time, I forgot my camera. Then it took another while, and I got in, camera in hand, and it was the 2nd last day. So if you're hearing about a shop for the first time, then sorry, you've missed it. But you can find it online!

I'll Take The Lot

(small car plate by Paget Scott-McCarthy, €25 from the Irish Design Shop)

In my recent post on the Christmas evening in the Irish Design Shop I had a really hard time choosing which Paget Scott-McCarthy product I would include in the post. In the end I went for the bicycle scarf because it and bicycles are awesome. But then I thought about it some more and decided that if I could, I'd buy loads more of Paget's work, and seeing as blogging about it is the next best thing, I would do just that. A Cork-born textiles designer who's also been branching out into ceramics (explaining the plates), her work has a really attractive graphic quality, and I'd very much like to own some ... maybe the bike scarf ... no, the birds ... or maybe ...

Talks on National Identity

As mentioned in the I Like local* guide to Design Week, the work of iconic British post-war graphic designer Abram Games is being exhibited in NCAD Gallery until January 2010. Although Games is probably best known for his work in Britain, creating identities for the London transport system and the Festival of London, the exhibition on Thomas Street puts an emphasis on Games' work for Irish companies such as Guinness (above, picture via The Small Print) and Aer Lingus.

Tasty Greens

I've eaten at Green Nineteen on Camden St twice in the last couple of months, and twice I've had an Awesome time. Every main course is €10 (so far my favourite is the fish and chips), every dessert is €5 (they had mojito ice-cream the first time I was there - soooo tasty) And they have a nice selection of cocktails, beers and wines. But of course, this being a design blog, there has to be more to Green Nineteen than good food, wine and value for money... and there is: the design and interior is supernice! I'm a big fan of their clipboard menus, and the chairs are as yum as their homemade chips. Even their cutlery and milk jugs are cool. That's some impressive attention to detail. My compliments to the designer!

Munching at Muji

If minimalist Japanese design and free booze is your bag, head to Muji on Chatham Street, Dublin on Wednesday 25th November for their first Customer Night. From 6-8pm you can enjoy drinks, nibbles and a 25% discount on everything instore, including their recycled kimono range (above) and their craft art box (below). Bear in mind, though, that to avail of the 25% discount on products, you need an invite, so email me or Muji for one.

TedX Dublin 2

TEDx Dublin returned last Thursday to a packed auditorium in the Science Gallery, where 100 of the most eager and quick-to-the-post (as tickets sold out in less than an hour) technology and design enthusiasts gathered for an evening dedicated to the 'D' in TED. If you're not familiar, TED stands for Technology Entertainment Design, and started off as a US-based conference for designers, scientists, thinkers and more. Now, in addition to conferences, TED.com presents videos of their speakers, telling us about their "Ideas Worth Spreading", and independent hosts are beginning to host TEDx events worldwide, which explains why we have TEDx Dublin.

Dublin Docklands Double Bill

During Design Week I went on a hardhat tour of The Convention Centre on Spencer Dock, and followed it up with a walking tour of the new bridges in the Docklands area. It was great to see the Convention Centre from the inside out (pretty nice views to be had, almost making up for the awful view of it from the outside), particularly as a work in progress. Alas, we weren't allowed to take photos, so you'll just have to hold a convention in September 2010 to see it yourselves...

Heritage

If, like me, you’re a bit of a design nut, then maybe, like me, you’ve been gorging yourself on Dublin-based design events for the months of October and November. From Open House, Ireland’s biggest architecture festival, to Sweettalk, the Candy Collective’s 37th instalment of creative worship in the Sugar Club, from Refresh Dublin’s reflections on the “State of Play” in Irish interaction design to Bombay Sapphire’s Design Week 09, it’s been an ergonomically-sound extravaganza of all things designed in Ireland (apart from clothes, the next Dublin Fashion Week comes to us in Spring 2010). And if, like me, the state of design in Ireland is never far from your mind, then the last few weeks will have given you a lot to think about.

Made by Colm Keller

Another young Irish designer featured in the Generation exhibition in NCG, Kilkenny as part of Design Week, Colm Keller has just finished his Masters in Design in Gothenburg, Sweden, and I've been a fan of his work for quite a while now. I first spotted Made by Eimear (pictured above) back in 2008 when it reached the final of the then Habitat and House and Home Student Design Awards. "Made by Eimear" is so-named because its design is inspired by Keller's sister Eimear, and is a really quirky, charming piece of furniture.

To Arlene

When not exhibiting at Generation at the National Craft Gallery, Kilkenny, eating biscuits and drinking tea, Arlene Caffrey is flying the flag for the Togher, Co.Louth graphic design scene. In fact, Arlene might be the Togher graphic design scene in its entirety... A recent graduate of DIT's BA in Visual Communication, it's her collection of bespoke beer mats that caught I Like Local*s eye.

Events in Dublin

Some of the events associated with Design Week occur before the week starts (such as Sweettalk, which was Awesome, and Refresh Dublin, going on on the 29th Oct), but there's still a huge amount to see and do between the 2nd and the 8th. Things kick off with the Thomas Heatherwick launch event in CHQ on the evening of the 2nd. For access to the lecture from the innovative designer/architect/artist as well as cocktails and shmoozing, you have to register for tickets with Slattery Communications here:

Exhibitions in Dublin

Upstarts is a programme run by ICAD for up-and-coming graphic designers and advertisers. A group of about 30 or so "upstarts" spend six weeks working and workshopping in six design or advertising companies and it all culminates in an exhibition, this time opening in Space@Rothco on 3rd November and running until the 10th.

Best of the Rest

There's a lot to see and do during Design Week outside of Dublin, but due mainly to time constraints (both in terms of writing this post and actually getting to multiple locations outside of Dublin) here are my top 3 "I'll get to these if I can" events/exhibitions.

Super Sweet

Candy Collective started small in 2005 as just one person in Dublin appreciating and promoting creative goings-on. Now it's bigger, better and more international than ever before, with a presence at Electric Picnic, an awesome magazine, a le cool cover competition, and my personal favourite, regular Sweettalk events.

Refreshing

(image via Refresh Dublin, courtesy of D. Sharon Pruitt)

On Thursday 29th October (next week) at 6pm the Science Gallery is hosting a free talk organised by Refresh Dublin entitled "State of Play", taking a look at what’s happening in Ireland in the web and interactive media industries at present. Speaking at it are the Playhouse team (who brought us Playhouse at Liberty Hall during the Dublin Theatre Festival), web designer Sabrina Dent, web app developer Eamon Leonard and Mercury Girl Inc., a company involved in iPhone and Augmented Reality development. Hopefully I'll get to go, and if interaction design and new media is your bag, hopefully you'll get to go too. For tickets, register at Science Gallery soon: they're almost all gone!

This Weekend

This weekend for a mere €40 you can treat yourself to 100 bands in 6 venues over 3 days as Dublin's Hard Working Class Heroes is back for it's seventh year. Things kick off today with acts including Dark Room Notes and Heritage Centre, and continue until well into the night of Sunday 18th October with Funeral Suits, Robotnik and more.

Above is the poster for the festival, designed by Pete Reddy at Redman AKA. I'm a big fan of all the work Pete's done for HWCH this year, as is Angela Dornan, creator of HWCH. She's been hiring him for the graphics since the start of the festival, and reckons he's a genius. What do you think?

Last Weekend

So spoiled are we for cultural events here in Dublin (pictured above from the roof of Liberty Hall) that right now, every weekend is jampacked with exhibitions, events, screenings and gigs, and last weekend was no exception. Busy as it was (Open House was pretty hectic, but excellent nonetheless), I still managed to fit in some Darklight events (below is their awesome poster, but they haven't emailed me back yet to tell me who designed it). Kudos must go to the artists of the Dodo Collective for their excellent exhibition, Utopia, in Smithfield. Also on the bill was Synth Eastwood Present New Animation Shorts in Lighthouse, a really enjoyable collection of ...well... new animation shorts..

A|wear Encore

As you may have gathered from before, I really like what Peter O'Brien's been doing with A|wear, but alas, his last collection for the high street store has come. Launching tomorrow (Wednesday 14th October), the A/W '09 collection is available from A|wear stores and online (where the images come from). I'm lusting after the Rita jumper and Sorcha skirt, above (€100 each), and the Utta blouse and Caoimhe peg-legged trouser, below (€80 and €100).

Through The Keyhole

I doubt there's any real connection between the popular David Frost and Lloyd Grossman tv quiz show Through the Keyhole and the Irish Architecture Foundation's Open House Dublin 2009, but I'd like to think they're not worlds apart. From the 8th - 11th October the doors of more than 160 buildings around Dublin, from residential to commercial, from cultural to ecological, will open their doors to the public for free guided tours. It's a unique opportunity to see inside the architecture that surrounds us, and these are some of the buildings on my Open House '09 Wish List (photos via the Open House website):

Enjoying Dublin Immensely

As you may have gathered from the last couple of posts, I'm brimming with enthusiasm for Dublin city right now. The last week or two has been a true testament to the time-honoured phrase "absence makes the heart grow fonder" because these days my heart is fonder than it's ever been of Europe's sixth most visited city. Friday night was particularly appropriate, with music from David Kitt at Whelans (two thumbs up for Kittser) sandwiched in between burgers and milkshakes at Bóbós next door. Pictured above is my ticket for the gig, and might I say, tickets from WAV ticket office are way tasty, especially when you compare them to the ugly ones you get from Ticketmaster. Well done WAV.

le cool dublin

le cool is a weekly email keeping you up-to-date on the best events, gigs, exhibitions and funtimes to be found in Dublin each week, with a tasty new cover each time it lands in your inbox (this week comes from photographer Richard Gilligan).

Oh! Fringe

In keeping with the 'enjoying Dublin' theme, as that's what I've been doing lately, here's a nod to Absolut Fringe. Now in its fifteenth year, Dublin's Fringe Festival is going from strength to strength, and is fast becoming one of my favourite events here. One of the best additions to this year's line-up has to be Oh! Fringe, published daily over the course of the festival by the people who bring you Oh Francis. Not only have they got great taste in typefaces, but it's a great way of getting up-to-date information, reviews etc AND you can collect all twelve to make a giant Killian Dunne poster. Pictured above is an illustration by Tom Moore for the Oh!Fringe Theatre quarter (also four quarters to collect).

City Bikes

At long last I Like Local* is based at home in Ireland again, and what a pleasure that is! Though the summer, with all its Danish and Scottish adventures, was Supernice, it's great to be home to assume my role here as a freelance visionary (my current favourite made-up job title: altogether more positive-sounding than "floundering graduate", which I went with for a while).

Print and Press

Every time I visit Edinburgh I make a beeline for Analogue Books on West Bow, just at the Grassmarket. A bookshop and exhibition space, Analogue is home to a really good selection of art and design books and magazines, one of which I couldn't leave without (pictured below: the reason for its purchase will be revealed soon...). I'm also told the exhibition space in the back will host work by the dreamy Anthony Burrill in the near future.

SuperJam

I Like Local*, contrary to the initial premise of this blog (to report on local, Irish design)is on the move once again. This time I'm visiting family in Scotland, so this week you'll be getting the lowdown on some likeable Scottish design. At breakfast this morning I came across SuperJam, a naturally sweetened, healthy jam created by Scottish teenager Fraser Doherty. Not only does it come in four tasty varieties (two of which I've tasted and enjoyed on toast with peanut butter), but it's also got super sweet label designs coutesy of IAS Smarts in Edinburgh. Photos via Foodie Boxes:

Danish Epilogue

i like local* returns to Denmark for a brief spell (I can never seem to leave for very long...), this time for partying, camping, chocolate consumption (in both bar and milk form) and sock shopping. Below are images of Toms chocolate, a Danish chocolate company with packaging as delicious as each packs' contents:

A-Mazing

i like local is back in Ireland (temporarily at least) and there's a lot of local design to get caught up on. I called into Awear on Henry Street today to see Peter O'Brien's summer capsule collection. It's a small but perfectly-formed collection: simple, well-tailored classic pieces, and certainly in the Henry Street branch the're really well displayed. I'm two months too late for the launch but I'm just in time for the 30-50% sale on most of the collection, and now I'm lusting after these (photos via A|wear):

Coffee and Cool

LYNfabrikken is a set of design studios, design boutique, coffee shop and all-round hip hangout on Vestergade in Århus. I've enjoyed many a coffee or ginger ale there, and have spent a lot of time fawning over the merchandise, but have yet to buy any of it. Featuring in the photo above are ceramic pieces by Rainy Days (sorry, can't find a web link or any other info on them) and below is a blazer made of reclaimed fabric by Daniel Kroh that I would very much like to own, but my mum says I need to stop buying grey clothing and she's probably right.

Next Stop, Design

Arrive in Århus and your first sight will (more than likely) be Århus H, the central train station, designed in 1927 by State Rail Company's architect K.T. Seest. Although nothing too exciting from the outside, the inside is wonderfully light and spacious (a characteristic common to many public buildings in town, it would seem). My favourite features are the PH lamps used throughout the building, hanging alone and in chandeliers (below). An obvious choice for a Danish public space, maybe, but a very effective one. Those disembarking from the direct services from Berlin and Prague will have no confusion as to what country they've arrived in...

Learn Danish

This is my second summer in Denmark, but beyond ordering beers, understanding basic food names and the days of the week, I can't speak Danish. It's a pretty baffling language, but Gyldendal's Røde Ordboger/Red Dictionaries make learning the language seem altogether more attractive.

Copy Me Happy

Vester Kopi is a copy shop on Østergade in Århus and I'm a huge fan of their window display. I think the picture says it all.

Danish Fashion

Not a post about Part Two or Pia Bang, but about what Danish summer weather has made me resort to. Shortly after arriving here I bought some Topshop sandals via eBay (there's a Topshop in Magasin on Immervad, but they didn't have the ones I wanted) and some wellies at the flea market on Ingerslevs Boulevard. I need both frequently, often in the same day. And so it is: the unpredictable Danish summer.

Joy of Jacobsen

Arne Jacobsen is probably one of Denmark's most celebrated architects and designers, having designed, among lots of other things, the Radisson SAS Hotel in Copenhagen and the Egg Chair. Yesterday I visited City Hall (Rådhus) in Århus and so respected is this Jacobsen building that it's included in the Danish Canon of Architecture (for more information and theorizing on that, check out an article here). I quite like Rådhus, it's airy and spacious while its lighting and wood panelling keep it warm rather than stark - all of the things you expect from Scandinavian Modernism. Unfortunately I didn't make it up to the clock tower this time round - some of the best views of the city and the bay can be seen there, but for now the views on the inside were more than enough.

Chair Monogamist

I recently came across a blog called Chair Whore, 'a blog about chairs and nothing else', a pretty specialist, pretty sweet blog. This post is partly inspired by those guys. There are a lot of beautiful chairs out there, but I think I've found The One (for now, at least). And guess what - it's Danish. Here's the PK 17 chair by Poul Kjærholm, designed in 1974 and, like most Danish superstar chairs, manufactured by Fritz Hansen.

Hej HAY

Danish design store HAY is a favourite of mine. Your average branch will stock a number of well-known international treats such as Seletti glass and ceramics and Wallpaper* Guides, but also manufactures a lot itself, from funky stationary and office products to furniture. When visiting the Århus branch on the too-perfectly-named Rosenkrantzgade, I found the new way I want to hang my clothes, except I'm concerned none of my clothes are beautiful enough for it. Presenting the Loop Stand wardrobe by Leif Jørgensen for HAY:

A Feast For The Senses

Since arriving in DK this summer I've had not one but two visits to NRGi Stadion to see the local football team AGF Århus play. They're sponsored by Faxe Kondi, a super tasty Danish version of 7up. And not only does Faxe Kondi taste good, it's also got the most nafftastic logo I've seen in a while. I heart it.

Danish Useful

I don't know if this is originally Danish in design, but Denmark's the first place I've seen one, so for now at least I'll give them credit for it. Made by Danish stainless steel manufacturer Raadvad (although we've got a Swedish one in the kitchen drawer too) this is the most simple and sleek looking can opener I've ever seen. A little more laborious than the ones I'm used to, perhaps, you use the protruding blade to cut you're can open while the little ridge beneath hooks under the outer rim to give you the torque you need to get the job done. Fantastisk.

Denmark's The Spot

Like I said in manifesto I'm in Denmark right now, in Århus, to be exact. Århus is Denmark's second biggest city, situated in East Jutland (the bit that's stuck to Germany, if you're not familiar). It's got a population of about 300,000 people (lots of those are students), a university famed for its architecture and landscaping, an Architecture school, a charming city centre and an Arne Jacobsen-designed City Hall. It's about 50km south of Ebeltoft, Denmark's glassmaking Mecca, and about 100km north of Legoland, possibly one of my favourite places on earth.

manifesto

Welcome to i like local, a new Irish design blog. The aim of this blog is to seek and share local design by local people, and to promote contemporary culture close to home. It's like picking Glenisk over Rachel's organic vanilla yoghurt, but possibly even tastier, and it's got way more style than even the old Guaranteed Irish logo.

...Except here's the thing: I'm technically not actually in Ireland right now. I'm currently hanging out in Denmark, where good design is almost too easy to find. So that'll be a nice warm-up, a way to ease myself into publicly liking local design. For the next couple of weeks I'll be reporting on/from a different locality, and then (extra)ordinary service will resume (or begin?!) in September.


Enjoy!

Aideen