Meet the Woods…
Meet the Woods…
They’re friends of mine, doing some work on them at the moment. Hope to have a family for little Beatrice and Anabelle soon, as at the moment they’re orphans.
Held Design
Meet the Woods…
They’re friends of mine, doing some work on them at the moment. Hope to have a family for little Beatrice and Anabelle soon, as at the moment they’re orphans.
Since the success of The Constant Knitter and with a little advice from a friend in the know, I decided I would add a bit of usefulness to my blog. Give back some info instead of using this as a space to randomly rant or throw up some unexplained work, so here it goes…
A little insight behind the thinking that went into The Constant Knitter.
I always start with a concept and this concept was brilliant. Rosemary wanted something a little quirky, maybe slightly off the wall, a bit out there, basically something different. She was totally and completely open to ideas and I LOVE THIS. The more open the better.
First things first, I took my influences from Rosemary, she loves colour, wears a lot of it and always looks bright, point in my notebook.
Secondly, wool!
The site is all about wool and knitting. The underground culture of knitting is mad, actually absolutely mental. With so many groups and hidden societies out there it’s like an underground rebellion, so of course I had to investigate that. I took wool samples and played with them endlessly, making the letters, scanning the wools, basically having fun. It’s fun with a purpose though and I found that the material itself combined with all the different types of stitches created really intriguing patterns upclose. I ran with this idea, asked Rosemary for some of her favourite pieces, took them home and put my scanner to work.
Thirdly, I took a selection of different typefaces or fonts (there seems to be an argument in the design world about what to call these so I’ll call them letters) each letter was a different font (ah there I go again. Just confused myself!) as a wanted to create a zanny feel to the logo, to show the diversity of knitting and knitters. I placed the scanned wool pieces behind the letters and cut them out…the end result is the logo you see now plus a few little tweaks.
The images above are some of the research stages I went through, this is what I love about design. It’s an open process, you may think your going one way with a piece and then a little bit of exploration leads you down a totally different path!
Hope you enjoyed this post, I may do more of these…um.
My artwork for the Little Ghost gallery.
The show is based around toys of Christmas past. My piece is a set of five images which tell a little story. Have a look and see what you think.
Show open until Christmas Eve so head along and buy my beauty or any of the other little beauties hanging on the white walls!
Little Ghost Gallery Christmas exhibition is opening tomorrow night (11th of December) and you are all invited. I was up there this evening and the place is looking brilliant down to the hard work of Mick and Ann.
It is well worth the visit and will be open for the run up to Christmas. My little piece will be hanging on the wall so get there quick and nab “Flip’s off” it’ll be worth millions after I take a trip in a wooden box!!
For anyone in Kilkenny it’s at the bottom of the hill that Canice’s Tower sits on the top of (that make any sense) it’s by the fireplace place, very easy to find but obviously hard to describe. You’d swear I wasn’t born here. For anyone that’s not from our glorious city ask for Joe’s chipper walk up towards the church and you’ll see it on the right hand side!
Kieran Boland Solicitors in Kilkenny asked me to design a simple website for them.
The key to the design was ease of use and simple navigation, they didn’t want their clients getting lost in the jargon.
The site has recently been launched at www.bolandsolicitors.com
Hi All,
I’ve done a few personalised posters for family and friends and have been asked a few times if I do them in general so I have had a think and decided that “yes I do.” So if you would like to surprise someone you love or hate whichever I don’t discriminate but I do rhyme (clearly) with a poster let me know and I’ll give it a go…so
You can contact me on helena@helddesign.ie
or visit helddesign.ie for my number and give me a bell (literally I don’t take cash)
I am currently working on a job that I decided, after some research, needed photography. So out came the camera. I blew the dust of the lens, screwed in the tripod and went all snap happy.
These are snippet of the results, pretty happy with them. Thinking of changing career to stylist/photographer!
Our posters and postcards have been flying out the door since inception, there is also a range of other cards in various stages of design, from in the head to on the page, I’ll will upload any new items here so watch this virtual space!
Please contact me if you would like your limited (as print run is running out but if demand out ways supply they will obviously become less limited!) edition postcard or poster or both. Postcards €2/Posters €8
I have also uploaded new work onto my website, just clink on this link and MAGIC it’ll take you there. Find your way to the ideas page and pop a few balloons, sounds like I’m going mad but no that is literally how you do it!
Enjoy the browse, ye nosy feckers!!
Another job I’ve been working on for a while, these little lads are now my best friends. I don’t get out much but when I do I bring them with me. They love heading to the pub but the ducks, especially the little ones, are light weights!
