How Dublin Works

The bedding in your local park, the roundabout at the end of your road, the planter on the quays: Dublin’s famous for its bursts of floral colour. Any journey you make in the city is likely to take you past some cheery display. But did you know that every plant you see comes from a single nursery, lovingly grown from seed to flower? St. Anne’s Park on the northside of the city is an embarrassment of riches. Its the second largest public park in the Dublin area, the grounds of the former estate of Lord and Lady

I didn’t really like school that much. I’m dyslexic and I couldn’t handle it. I hated even reading at the time. I left school when I was 16 and got into a trade in air conditioning and refrigeration. I bought my first house when I was 19, my second when I was 22, my third when I was about 24. I rented out the houses and was involved in different businesses, investing money as well as working in refrigeration. In my early 20s, I had nice cars, everything was going great, I travelled all over the world and had a ball! I realised I liked the hustle and bustle behind the camera. It was being creative but it was still business, and I like dealing with people

The world, according to a Dublin foreman This is no occupation for old men – to twist what Yeats said. I wouldn’t mind, but I’m not even that ancient. Climbing up all these flights of scaffolding. Then the scaffolding gives way to ladders. Ladders for a couple more floors. As a result, the sweat is breaking out when we get up here: this windswept top floor with stunning views. If only it was safe to stop watching your footing and look out on the city and the Liffey flowing into Dublin Bay. Painting a picture of the landscape We’re down on the North Wall, near the 3Arena. Commanding these stunning views is a nine-storey building – not co

What happens when you choose the road less travelled and forgo a full-time college course on leaving school? We chat to successful sales rep Craig Andrew about what he did instead. Craig Andrew on career building without college The Leaving Cert can seem like the biggest thing in the world when you’re 18. It could define the rest of your life. You’ve got to work hard if you want a job. You’ve got to work even harder if you want a well-paid job. And you’re just lucky if you enjoy it. That’s how Craig Andrew and many others felt when they were that tender age. Craig’s Leaving Cert experience “It’s not like I didn’t try,”

Meet Andrew Harris – Dublin’s traffic control room supervisor “There’s always someone looking at you,” sang Dublin band the Boomtown Rats back in 1979. Today, in the city, that someone is Andrew Harris at the Traffic Control Room. Checking out Dublin’s traffic cameras Andrew and his staff monitor the screens in their room in Wood Quay, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They’ve got 400-odd cameras in locations all over the city. Some of them you can see – up at the top of street lights, for instance. However, it’s the ones

In Temple Bar, nestled in a modern, environmentally-friendly building, is The Design House – a thriving hub of creativity. The Design House was founded by Irish fashion designer, Bebhinn Flood. It’s the creative home to several in-house designers. With design and retail under the one roof, it’s like buying straight from the studios. I needed machines and retail all in the same place. The walls host a gallery of art. Over 60 designers, mostly Irish, sell their creations here. There’s cutting-edge fashion, jewellery, bridal, vintage and a variety of crafts. Not to mention the in-house café and authentic churro takeaway. Then, th

Dublin-based illustrator Fuchsia Macaree has a range of work full of unusual characters, bright colours and quirky maps. She’s been freelancing since finishing college, working with a regular client base, taking on bigger projects and teaching part-time at NCAD. Dublin.ie sat down for a chat to find out more. She tells us about her work with Dublin tech giants Google and Facebook, as well as some of her pass

We all know Grand Canal as the home of Google but unbeknownst to many, tucked among the tech giants is a building where ancient crafts are still practised, THE DESIGN TOWER. The Tower’s seven stories of studios play host to jewellers, fashion designers, conservationists and more. Dublin.ie is going behind the tower’s walls to meet the craftspeople working there, including Tony O’Connor of JewelleryRepair.ie. I’ve been here longer than my own house. I started my apprenticeship here in a different jewellery company

Barbershop culture is on the rise in Dublin. Barbershops are becoming cultural hotspots. Places you can go not only for a haircut, but for music, design or even a whiskey. By taking the best of New York’s barbershops and adding a touch of creativity and an Irish welcome, Sean Bryan of Cut & Sew has built his business from one chair in the basement of a record shop to four stores around Dublin city. And he isn’t finished yet. Dublin.ie caught up with Sean to hear about the story behind his success. Starting Cut & Sew barbers Sean left school after third year and started a carpentry apprenticeship. However, that didn’t work out, so he turned his h

Adding colour to walls all across Dublin, James Earley is bringing street art out of its sub-cultured roots. By spray painting concepts onto walls, Earley is proving that street art is more than just stylistic. Dublin.ie sat down for a chat with him to find out more. He tells us about his family’s artistic heritage and how he got started painting street art in Dublin. In conversation with James Earley During my teens I started getting interested in sub-culture, the likes of skating, basically anti-establishment stuff and I was looking at the graphics in the skate magazines. I lived out by Dún Laoghaire and was getting

The Guinness Enterprise Centre, on Taylor’s Lane in the heart of Dublin’s Liberties, is managed by Dublin Business Innovation Centre and has been named the no.1 university associated business incubation centre in the world. In the first of two articles about the GEC, Dublin.ie talks to Eamonn Sayers, the centre’s manager since 2011. Dublin.ie: I’m an entrepreneur. I’ve got an idea. What can the GEC do for me here? Eamonn Sayers: The first step here is that we’ll try and put you in front of an entrepreneur who’s in the same industry. We’ll say have a chat with this person, see what they’re thinking. If you’ve identified your target market, again we’ll say we know someone here who’s in the same market and they’ll have a coffee with you too. Dublin.ie: Then what happens? Eamonn Sayers: Our role here is to help your company grow and scale. We help to make it become better and we help to make you a better entrepreneur. We create an environment and a community and a sense of belonging that makes entrepreneurs very comfortable, makes them enjoy the fact that this is their office, this is their workplace, so that both the entrepreneur and their teams are in the best place to grow their businesses.

Co-working that went from pop-up to permanent The Fumbally Exchange began as part of the pop-up space revolution that took Dublin by storm a few years ago. Its name came from its first temporary location, which was on Fumbally Lane – right next to the well-known Fumbally Café. Today, however, the Fumbally Exchange has a permanent home in the freshly refurbished Argus House in the popular Blackpitts area of Dublin 8. It has even expanded to a second location in Waterford. So what exactly is the Fumbally Exchange?