Like any creative, I find it difficult to stay on the one path, doing project after project, without occasionally needing to mix things up a bit. These ‘Side Hustles’ play an important role in nourishing my design practice. Striking outside the box with creative projects, diversifying into alternatve but complimentary areas and disciplines invigorates and energises my main ‘bread & butter’ work. It allows me to flex and stretch my skill set and feeds back in to my deisgn work in an invaluable way.
Below are just some examples…
Neighbourfood Clifden
Fab Food Trails
Probably more than a ‘side hustle’, Fab Food Trails played a huge role in the development of my practice in Cork. Set up by my aunt Eveleen Coyle and cousin Pamela Coyle in Dublin in 2006, FFT ran, and still run, guided food tasting walks around Dublin.
When I moved to Cork to study architecture I discovered a thriving food scene, full of owner-run independant food businesses who either produced their own food, or had direct relationships with their producers and suppliers. In 2011 I went about setting up Fab Food Trails Cork and through my weekly guided walks I got to know the city and it’s brilliant food scene inside out.
(Photos by David Casey)
Ballymaloe Literary Festival
Ballymaloe Litfest, set up originally as a food & drink literature festival in east Cork, grew to become the food event of the year covering everything from foraging to farming. “Our Food - Whats the Story?” was the theme of the festival in 2015 when I spoke on a panel with Chef Christian Puglisi from Copenhagen’s Relae, Sharon Green of Queens of Neon and Kevin Thornton of Thorntons Restaurant on the theme of Food and Design.
Cork Food Policy Council
‘The Cork Food Policy Council work towards the achievement of a fairer, healthier, more secure and sustainable food system within the City and throughout the region.’ I was invited to join by Professor Colin Sage in 2015 and served on the council for two years. In that time I got to work on some really brilliant initiatives alongside a cross section of stakeholders from across the public and private sectors. As well as fundraising, marketing and branding, I got to work on Grow Initiatives, Food Awards, Street Feasts and represented the CFPC in Liverpool at the Sustainable Food Cities Conference 2016.
The Cork Food Mapping Project
Bringing food, design, and cartography together I developed a series of food maps illustrating everything from Cork’s brewing history to its dog-friendly cafes. Soon after, I began contributing to the culture magazine Insert Title writing a regular piece to go alongside.
The North Main St. Street Party
In June 2019 three neglected buildings on the historic spine of Corks City Centre became so unsafe that the Council had to close off the street, leaving the small independant businesses of North Main Street completely cut off. In an attempt to highlight the plight of these traders, and the issue of dereliction in general, I wondered might an illegal street party be in order?! Take a negative, and turn it in to a positive. Minutes after speaking to friends and neighbours in the area the idea took on a life of its own. The spirit, enthusiasm and generosity of everyone in the neighbourhood was so impressive. Everyone chipped in and helped out. The media attended, the message got out, dereliction as an issue was brought to the fore and remains so to this day.
Printmaking
Printmaking
Using my Cork mapping work as the subject matter, I had great fun printing vibrant colours and textured inks on cotton and linens with Debbie Godsell at the Cork Printmakers studios.