Held Design

Wherever You Roam…

Always Bring A Window From Home.

I ran around town on Friday frantically trying to organise printing, collection, laminating, hole punching and any number of other “ings” imaginable and all in name of a week dedicated to Art.

Friday night myself and a posse of merry friends went around our fair city (I know its debatable but we’re a proud people!) fastening them to any available lampost, cable ties and all.
Saturday morning “Poof” they’d all vanished!
If anyone would like one let me know, I’ve decided to avoid lamposting for a while!

Computer, Irelands favourite apples


I know its been a while since I have blogged. Shame on me! But what can I say, this recession has me busy, now with a little respite I’ve had another look for more quirky companies and brands I can bring to your screens…

So bite into a “Computer”!

They are an Irish owned apple company making a few waves. A little dash of quirkiness has seen their brand sky rocket to the top of the league tables and they are now snapping at Granny Smiths ankles.

“Peetrol” The Recycling Revolution

Here it is folks, the answer to all our prayers. Forget global warming, forget the greenhouse effect and the depletion of our natural resources.

“Peetrol” is the brand name for a new eco car that is about to be unleased upon us. Japan are to the forefront of most technical revolutions and this case is no different. Millions has been poured into this prototype and experts expect the return to be 100 times that.

A car that runs solely on urine is no mean feat. Forget running out of petrol on the side of a cold, lonely road, forget watching the orange light burn a hole in your pupil as you sit hopelessly on the accelerator and will a petrol station to pop over the horizon. With “Peetrol” the new eco car, all you need is a bottle of water. Take a swig, sit back and wait and when your ready, fill her up.

Recycling has never been so cool, watch the world get back to nature!

What the hell do I know?

“Who are you to air this wordy rant,
These thoughts you intend to show,
A shaky soapbox your foundations,
What the hell do you know?”

My head is a muddle,
My thoughts slip slosh like out,
Onto this victim paper,
A cowards beastly shout.
They say one man can’t move a mountain,
And yet, we’re one man made,
Feeney reared young minds once wandered,
Gave this island back her scholars,
Put books in the heart of Munster,
Pumping silicone to shores once lonely,
The Party Public bathed in glory,
As the tiger licked her paws.

But as our scholars flourished,
Our saints backbones did bend,
Patrick rid this land of danger,
Yet there’s hissing in the house of Leinster,
Our eyes once squinted shut,
Blinded by the gleam of gold,
And now our magic money vanished,
Their camouflage grows old.

And we insist their friend not foe,
But what the hell do I know?

Its been swelling, and brewing and brooding,
The skin harbours buried blisters,
The under currents rife,
And still the sea just ripples,
Its ferocious power ponders,
On the realities of life.
We’re stealing from our children,
Wishing our elders to their grave,
Sucking life from the disadvantaged,
All hard pennies fought,
Grabbed back into burning pockets,
Of criminals not caught.
As our people cry themselves to sleep,
Inside walls they’ll never own,
As our pride is stomped by dirty boots,
Our confidence stripped bare,
They debate the blasphemous,
Outlaw the holy swear.

And now, our heads hang critically low,
But then again, what the hell do I know?

We once had pride,
And power,
And passion.
We relished in the craic,
The laugh,
And the skit,
We were a remarkable people,
Our generosity matched only by our wit.

Don’t let the politics break us,
Don’t let the spirits wane,
Let our voices speak volumes,
Let us march through the driving rain.
We are Irish, blood and bone,
Our love mapped in calloused hands,
Daily we face the savage seas wrath,
We can reclaim these lands.

And so my angers easing,
And I know what I have to show,
I know I love my country,
This is what I know.

“Quote of the Day”

While watching Leinster beat Munster in an unbelievable match on Saturday, this little snippet flew over the airways via the referee…

“you two, keep your shoulders above your knees and stay close to your hookers…”

…quite brilliant I think!

We’re on the Web (outside of Blogger that is!!)

Well after a lot of work and some untold stress (I wear it well not a line on my face despite the fact I’m allergic to my €50 anti wrinkle cream) www.helddesign.ie is on the web.

It hasn’t been officially launched yet, Obama and Mary McAleese are trying to co-ordinate their schedules so they can both make it, I thought that was quiet nice of them although a little egotistical that they didn’t ask me about my schedule and when it suits me, that’s presidents for you!! I can’t wait for the launch though I’ll be wearing a ballgown at my desk, I’m sure it will give some elegance to my work!

Anyway today is a big day for another reason, I’m getting my left foot checked. It’s been giving me hassle for the last year or so and I’m finally going to the specialist of specialists, the god of footly matters and he better sort it, I reckon I could buy a house in the recession for his fees! I hope their not going to cut it off again, it was painful enough the first time the combine harvester caught it in its clutches I can’t imagine the surgeons knife would be any less so, just possibly a little neater.

Preserve your modesty! Streaker, the all American Sneaker


Hello again.
I’m very excited about this the second of my innovative design posts.

Some might say this is self promotion, not quite self promotion but what is the word they use when you promote a friend, nepotism, plagiarism….?? I’m sure it has to be one of the “isms”?

Anyway so after that big build up, here it is…

Streaker, the all American Sneaker

Streaker is a new brand of running shoe developed by my good friend John Popple (he is a colourful character to say the least and I’m privileged to count him as a friend, but I won’t fill you in on that now). Johnny is Americas most prolific Streaker, he proudly boasts that he has never in his 100 streaks been caught. In fact he loves to tell the story off how he once ran 30 blocks in the soaring heat after another successful streak just to escape being apprehended by the “Cops” only to discover later the same night, that he had forgotten to put on sun cream and spent the next few days immersed in a bath of ice!.

He modestly puts his unnatural speed down to his faithful running shoes which have been on his feet for every one of his triumphs and so he has released this new runner as a tribute to them. Streaker was developed to mark Johnny’s entry into the record books for his 100th successful streak, more than any other man or woman alive. A tongue in cheek marketing campaign and a very competitive price, retailing at $20, has made the runners a must have. They are flying off the shelves almost as fast as Johnny can fly across a pitch.

There are also plans in the pipeline to introduce his product to Europe so watch this space! You know where you heard it first…

The Dolly Brolly

Hello again!

I have trawled the Internet and numerous design magazines for this, the first of my trend spotting/innovative design posts. This is a good one as it should be, being the first, its usefulness will not be left wanting in this country of ours, known for its glorious weather!!

The Dolley Brolly is one of a number of designs from the design powerhouse that is Helen Haileyway. A genius of our time, her designs are not only desirable in appearance but they almost always become design classics and must haves for today’s modern lady.

The Dolley Brolly’s sleek and sophisticated appearance hides its tech savvy core extremely effectively. On a sunny day the Brolly poses as a simple yet stylish hair clip available in a range of bright colours but wait for its genius! Upon sensing rain, it extends into a functional umbrella while amazingly, still holding its stylish appearance.

Already available in the States, Helen promises it will be hitting our shores in early 2009.

Ladies we will never have a bad hair day again!!

Athletes Foot


I’m getting better at this now. I’ve figured out how to add another blog and that means I can now tell you all about me.

So, I won’t tell you my name because this is the Internet and there’s a lot of weirdos on it (I’m not trying to offend anyone here but you know what I mean!). Anyway I’ll give you my nick name it’s Athletes Foot and I’m not called that for the obvious reason but I bet you won’t believe it if I tell you why I’ve been given that name…

Here it goes

There is no point beating around the bush you’ll either believe it or you won’t and it doesn’t matter as I’m the only one who has to live with it! When I was younger, well I should be more specific I suppose. When I was six, I was like every other young one in my village, out playing in the fields. It was summer and the sun was shining because it did that back then, and I was lying with my friend in the corn. The sky was a lovely blue, a bright, bright blue, like the Mediterranean sea though obviously in the sky. If you could put the sea in the sky that’s what it was like and the corn was a golden yellow, a happy yellow, the kind of yellow that puts a smile on your face.

So because of the yellow and the blue and the heat and the soft breeze that brushed through the corn and the general relaxed and happy feeling you only get in the summer, I fell asleep and because of my snoring and general boredom my friend ran away and because my friend ran away there was no one there to wake me when the combine harvester came plodding by and because there was no one there to wake me the first I knew of the combine harvester was the sharp, searing and generally otherworldly pain that ripped up my leg and caused my mouth to release a scream never heard before or since in that field in summer.

So to cut things short, I lost my foot to the harvesters jaw but as coincidence would have it, on that very day I lost my foot, a local world renowned plastic surgeon was home visiting his family
and heard of my plight…

When I woke three days later in my hospital bed, I had one normal foot and one extremely large, quiet out of proportion to my body, foot. A tragic accident had befallen a local family and they had lost their son, a scholarship athlete, an 800 metre wonder. The surgeon had performed a revolutionary operation and I had a foot I’d grow into.

So whether you believe it or not, that is the story of where I got my nickname, why I won every hop scotch competition I ever entered and why I have to shave my foot so it looks good in heels!

And what has this to do with design, well nothing really except this accident gave me a new passion, some might call it an obsession, to seek out the new, radical and sometimes unbelievable things that are invented everyday in this world of ours and I will bring them to you through the platform of blogging…

Hello

Hello and welcome to my site, well I mean my bosses site, but she’s put me in charge so to all extensive purposes its my site!

What will I say, this is my first time to use a blog and I’m not sure what I am doing but maybe I will start with introducing myself…

No actually rethinking that, first I better talk about my boss and this company because that’s what this site is supposed to be about. I’ll tell you about me later (It’s much more interesting). So I work for a company called HelD. It’s a design agency based in Ireland and we do everything, design wise that is! Anyway we specialise in innovative design, I’ve been told to say that but what it really breaks down to is that we love ideas, all sorts of ideas and our favourite part of the job (well my favourite part at least) is sitting down and trying to come up with the maddest (and obviously the best) idea I can and then selling it to the client, its especilly good when they get as excited as I do about it!

So anyway have a look at our website helddesign.ie and you’ll see what I mean.

Graphic Design

Goodreads Amazon Etsy google linkedIn facebook twitter GoodReads Amazon Etsy google linkedIn facebook twitter