While Helen Delany has lived in London for more than 20 years, she still considers herself in many ways a resident of Dublin, so connected is she to her native city as one half of the knitwear company Electronic Sheep which she runs with business partner Brenda Aherne.
The graphic designer and typography expert spent many years in both London and New York working in design for high-end publications such as Martha Stewart Living, House & Garden and Glamour magazine at Condé Nast Publications and the Sunday Times, before establishing Electronic Sheep with fellow NCAD graduate Aherne.
The knitwear label, characterised by its graphic and illustrative designs shows at London Fashion Week, has collaborated with toy manufacturer Playmobil and has been sold in London’s Science Museum.
“Having the studio in Dalston and being part of the creative community in London as well as Dublin, means we have been able to tap into resources such as LFW [London Fashion Week] and into the design and art scene here, which has helped the business move in the right direction,” she says.
“The scene in Dublin is good but it’s small and I found that the fashion and the art community were divided quite a bit, whereas here I have a group of friends who overlap in fine art and fashion. While London is in some ways larger and more intimidating, it has allowed me to be more creative as a business person and a designer.”
Delany first moved to London to work for design company Pentagram having won a design competition in college.
“It was a dream job and my priority was to learn as much as I could and then work for myself. I didn’t think I’d end up working in fashion in any way other than perhaps in magazines,” she says.
"Working in the Sunday Times was the most challenging job I've ever done, but it also taught me a lot about running a business. I refer back to that work ethic and strict process, the deadlines and self-driven creativity all the time. If you had an hour to do a job, you did it and that has stayed with me."
Delany works on Electronic Sheep throughout the week, conversing daily on Skype and email with Aherne. She lives near Portobello where the famous markets are a constant source of inspiration and travels by Tube to east London where her studio is located.
At the studio, Delany works on the collections for Electronic Sheep and talks to others in the shared studio space where she collaborates with Slashstroke – an artist/designer/publishing collective.
“I’ve always been drawn to the independence of freelance work,” she says. “I’m very motivated as a freelancer and I know how that works. Perhaps it is a characteristic of being a creative person. I’m a bit of a night owl and also find 5pm to 10pm is my most creative time.”
Delany keeps a constant eye on design in Ireland. Arriving in Dublin Airport to see the Irish Design 2015 campaign, she was “surprised at the lack of striking design visuals” and thinks it was “a bit of a missed opportunity”. “I didn’t feel like I was part of it and, particularly with Brenda being based in Dublin, we would have loved to have been more involved in the campaign,” she says.
Having said that, she believes the design scene is very strong in Ireland.
“There wasn’t that many innovative design companies in Ireland when I left. I think the current generation of creatives is really making a stamp – they have an Irish, yet international, approach and can hold their own against any city internationally.”
Having spent time working in New York, Delany feels that at 25 years old, she was thrown into the deep end and given much greater opportunities and responsibilities than she might have had in other cities.
Through the collective Slashstroke and the Fashion Space Gallery at London College of Fashion, Delany has developed a wide group of friends and associates many of whom are artists, designers, curators and lecturers in fashion and art.
Recently Delany met JWSS – a group of lawyers she met through London College of Fashion – which has helped Electronic Sheep with its licensing and intellectual property rights as the business moves into the Chinese market with a showroom and agent in Shanghai.
“The Chinese have a reputation for looking at things differently in terms of design. If something is not registered and copyrighted, it’s a bit of a free for all.” electronicsheep.com
