It’s not every day you get a hug in the post. I opened it up and wrapped it around me immediately, and it was so all embracing that I was unable to separate myself from it for about a week. Luckily, I am also able to bring it on all my travels now, as a Hug is the name for the most stunning wrap or shawl, made from recycled woollen jumpers and crafted into a cocoon of cosiness that will keep me warm in winter and chill free in summer.
It stands in the middle of a waste ground like a glittering Christmas bauble that is found months after the celebrations are over, lying in a dusty corner of the shed somewhere. It cost millions and it is now the biggest visitor attraction in Northern Ireland, surpassing the Giant’s Causeway. It’s Titanic Belfast, sitting pretty in the derelict urban space where industry once thrived. It shines, it sparkles, it grabs the eye. And yet, it looks weirdly out of place.
Long before the words ethical or eco started creeping into the tourism industry’s boardrooms, there was one man who was quietly laying the foundations of fairness in travel. Thomas Arthur Leonard (or TA as he was known) founded HF Holidays in the UK a hundred years ago and it is still one of the leading providers of walking holidays in the UK and Europe. Although TA’s achievements have been relatively uncelebrated to date, the centenary of an organisation which still remains the only UK holiday provider that is a truly co-operative society, gives us a good opportunity to take stock of this pioneering philanthropist’s achievements.
Catherine donning D1, before her son pinches it from her
We Irish have to live with the rain. We cycle through it, walk through it, canoe through it and party through it. That is not to say that we don’t get miserable about it too, sometimes. We do. So the more people out there who help us catch a glimpse of that rainbow just bursting to come out from behind those clouds, the better. And Georgia Scott is one of those. She has designed a quirky range of rain gear, mostly for cycling, but they are so cool, you could wear them most places really.
I opted for the D1 high visibility vest, as I my current one that looks like I just stepped off a building site just doesn’t really do anything for my middle aged crisis. Nor, it would seem for my ten year old’s who hates wearing his high vis vest, as he says it looks like ‘ a kid on a school trip’. So, he’s now pinching my new vest which is according to him, ‘totally sick and cool’ (‘sick’ is a compliment from anyone under about 21 these days by the way) and, according to me, based on a Mondrian design with olive green and bright green squares, intercut with silver ‘light up in the dark’ stripes.
The high vis vest is called the D1 after the Dublin postcode, which lies just north of the river. This is just many areas which boast Georgian architecture that Dublin is famous for and so, rather cleverly, Georgia has named her company Georgia in Dublin. Simply stylish and cool, just like her range. Most of their products are designed to have at least two functions. The Dorothy Cover protects the contents of your bike basket from rain, wind, and stuff hopping out as you go over bumps while also doubling as a drawstring bag to put your other rain wear, lights, hats, gloves etc. in. Similarly the Rainwrap can be worn over skirts and trousers keeping your legs dry while cycling and walking and it also doubles as a picnic blanket .
The Dublette jacket (also has hood) and Daisy basket cover
Georgia, who launched this company with her mother in 2009, told me that “We envisaged a range of clothing that women could wear both cycling and walking to work or to the theatre, wherever, whatever the weather. We wanted to help elevate and celebrate the bike as a means of transport for women as well as men”.
All of Georgia’s products are designed and the prototypes made by them in Dublin. Sustainability is important to them and they use good quality cloth and collect used inner tubes from bike shops to make fasteners for the Dublette, the stunning, expandable waterproof jacket and soles for the Leggits, which are like something out of a theatrical costumier’s studio. But if you can’t be theatrical in Dublin, where can you be? Except Paris, New York, London, Milan, Berlin….the list goes on, and this Georgian show will travel, I have no doubt. The Leggits have already won an iF International Design Award for design innovation and production quality at Eurobike 2011 and they won a Brand New Award at the Munich Bike Expo in 2011 for the Georgia in Dublin range. So, instead of letting it rain on your parade, check out Georgia, who will have you singing your way through it, and singing in style.
