Ladies, Wine and Design Belfast was set up by Alice Kearney, a graphic designer, art director and illustrator working at Mammoth Design Studio in Belfast. We caught up with her to tell us about where LW&D started and how she hopes it's going to help the Northern Irish community of female creatives.
What is Ladies, Wine and Design and what made you decide to start it?
Ladies, Wine and Design was initially started by a New York based graphic designer called Jessica Walsh. While Walsh was working on a personal project called ’12 Kinds of Kindness’ with Timothy Goodman she realised she wanted to start the monthly gatherings to mentor and champion other women’s work. There are now Ladies, Wine & Design groups in over 170 countries.
I started the LW&D Belfast chapter as I thought it would positively add to the local design community and get some of us female designers together for fun workshops and social nights to discuss work, life and business.
What affect do you think/hope it'll have to the female creatives community in Northern Ireland?
I hope it builds on the growing community in Northern Ireland. We’re a small place and it’s my aim that LW&D becomes a perfect way to get to know other creatives in different studios and from different areas of the design sector.
It also gives people the opportunity to start new design collaborations that they might never have had the chance to do before because of these new found connections. I think there can be a lot to benefit from a casual meet up with a glass of wine (or two). Also, it’s nice to ‘like’ each others work online but it’s even better to put a face to an instagram account I’ve been swooning over!
What events/projects have you been involved with so far?
So far, I have organised a few casual meet ups for people to get to know each other but next up we will be attending the Drink & Draw in Town Square, Belfast on April 24th. This meet up is free so no excuses!
Then in mid May we have a screen printing workshop with graphic designer Pauline Clancy at Belfast Print Workshops. This workshop is now fully booked but we will definitely be doing more workshops in the future so follow us on Instagram or email us to get involved.
What can we expect to see from LW&D in the future?
More workshops to get our hands dirty, more meet ups with wine (wine drinking is not mandatory to join LW&D! and to naturally create more design led collaborations with LW&D individuals.
Ladies, Wine and Design's Next Event: Drink & Draw in Town Square, Belfast — Tuesday 24th April, 7pm