The Stories Behind the Designs
Every Due South design is a place, and every place has a story someone carries with them. These are ours, in Paul's own words.
It started with Paul drawing for fun, making tees and sweaters for friends and family at Christmas and on birthdays. Mel saw he loved it more than his job and told him to make a business of it. In 2016 he screen-printed the first ones by hand in our living room.
The very first design was the Poolbeg Chimneys, a white line drawing on a heather blue tee. A year later the chimneys got their red, and it has been our best seller ever since.
How a drawing comes together
Most designs start with a place we know well: a walk we did every month, a drive we took every Easter, a beach we swam at for years. Some come from our customers, who tell us about engagements on the Sugar Loaf or sunsets on Errigal. The Mourne Mountains drawing was pieced together from our own family photos of a weekend there.
Paul draws every design by hand. In his words: "Clean lines, simple shapes, nothing that doesn't need to be there. It is how I try to draw everything." The aim is a vision of Ireland we can be proud of, one that captures the heart and soul of the land and its people, and leaves room for your own stories.
Each drawing is then screen-printed by hand, in small batches, in our studios in Dublin and Wexford.
Jump to: New: Grá Mór · Dublin · Wicklow · Kerry and West Cork · The West and North · Wexford and the sea · Words, bikes and wandering · Just for fun
Coming soon: Grá Mór
Grá Mór
Irish for great love, and say it out loud and you hear more love too. Our newest design, landing next week.
Like Solas and Ar do Rothar, this is one of my Irish language designs. I love the phrase because it can mean so much. Love for the country, for the people in our lives, for our friends, and for ourselves. It's warm, it's hope, it's the future. We could all do with more grá in our lives.
Paul
Dublin
Poolbeg Chimneys
Over 207 metres tall and finished in 1971 and 1978. Dubliners call them the Pigeon House, after John Pidgeon, the caretaker appointed there in 1761.
This was my very first design. I saw the chimneys every day on my way to work, and between that drive and days on Sandymount beach, they always felt like home.
Paul
Dublin Skyline
Liberty Hall, which many Dubliners call the SIPTU building, was for a time the tallest building in Ireland.
I didn't follow the real view from the air. I chose the landmarks that mean Dublin to me and lined them up my own way. Half the fun was deciding who made the cut. Every Dubliner I showed it to had an opinion on what I had left out.
Paul
Ha'penny Bridge
Opened in 1816. It cost a ha'penny to cross, which is how it got its name, and the toll was dropped in 1919.
When we lived in the city I walked over it every day. I must have crossed it thousands of times, usually in a hurry. It was only when I sat down to draw it that I noticed how delicate it is.
Paul
Poolbeg Lighthouse
The red lighthouse at the end of the Great South Wall, nearly four miles out into Dublin Bay.
This one came from our walks around Sandymount, and from the people we met who walk out to the lighthouse every single week. It is a longer walk than it looks, and the wind out there will wake you up better than any coffee. The red lighthouse at the end is the reward.
Paul
Samuel Beckett Bridge
Designed by Santiago Calatrava and opened in 2009, shaped like a harp lying on its edge.
A harp lying on its side over the Liffey. I watched the docklands change around it when we lived in Dublin.
Paul
Wicklow
The Sugar Loaf
501 metres of quartzite, often mistaken for a dormant volcano. It never was one.
Before the kids came along, Mel and I walked up the Sugar Loaf at least once a month. Mel comes from the mountains in Italy, where hiking is simply part of life, and we carried the habit over here. Our customers have made this design bigger than our own outings. They tell us about engagements at the top, birthday climbs and childhoods spent waking up to that view. There is a lot of sentiment packed into this one drawing.
Paul
Glendalough
Gleann Dá Loch, the valley of two lakes, where St Kevin founded his monastery in the 6th century.
I have been going to Glendalough since I was a kid, and I kept the tradition going. Mel's family loved it too, and it was the favourite place of our dog, Millie. I have great memories of drawing this one, and I hope it sparks the same for everyone who wears it.
Paul
Miss you already
Watch: Glendalough
A mum slips a Glendalough tee into her son's suitcase, with a note that says miss you already. Then he wears it out on a hike. This is what we hope every design does: carries a piece of home with you, wherever you go.
Kerry and West Cork
Carrauntoohil
Ireland's highest mountain at 1,038 metres, in the MacGillycuddy's Reeks.
It looks every bit as dramatic as that sounds. We climbed it years ago, up the Devil's Ladder. The views weren't great that day, but we loved it all the same. I still love this design.
Paul
Moll's Gap
A viewpoint on the Ring of Kerry, named after Moll Kissane, who ran a shebeen here in the 1820s while the road was being built.
Moll's Gap is one of the great drives, and the scenery is otherworldly. We passed through every Easter with family on the way to Kenmare, so this view is tied up with family for me.
Paul
Skelligs
Skellig Michael lies about 12 km off the Kerry coast, with a monastery founded between the 6th and 8th centuries.
Years ago we took a boat out with Mel's brother. The crossing was as rough as could be. We nearly said we shouldn't go, and the skipper just said 'ah, we'll be grand'. We got soaked down to our underwear. Then, out at the Skelligs, the rain stopped and the sky opened up to blue. It was magical.
Paul
Fastnet Lighthouse
Ireland's Teardrop, the last piece of home emigrants saw as they sailed for North America.
I have always been fascinated by the furthest point out, and by the history around the Fastnet. I first drew it for our very first Ballymaloe show in West Cork, and it has since become one of our most iconic designs.
Paul
The West and North
Cliffs of Moher
On the Clare coast, rising to 214 metres.
So many memories here. Mel used to live not far away, and we would often go out just to watch the water crash. My uncle, who has since passed, had a shop there, so this design means a lot to me.
Paul
The Burren
From the Irish Boireann, a rocky place, where arctic, alpine and Mediterranean plants grow side by side.
Mel used to live in the Burren and always talked about walking her dog for hours across the stony landscape. The first time she brought me there, I understood. It looks like the moon, until you look down and find flowers growing in the cracks.
Paul
Blackrock Diving Tower
At the end of the prom in Salthill since 1953. By tradition, you kick the wall for luck.
I used to sea swim at the Forty Foot all the time, so I wanted to make a design for the swimmers of the west. I really should draw the Forty Foot too.
Paul
Errigal
Donegal's tallest peak at 751 metres, known for the pink glow of its quartzite at sunset.
I climbed Errigal as a kid. My cousin's family have a house not far from there, and we used to visit them in the summer holidays. Friends and customers still tell me their own Errigal stories, and they all say the same thing: go at sunset, when the whole mountain turns pink.
Paul
Mourne Mountains
Slieve Donard, the highest mountain in Northern Ireland, and the Mourne Wall, which crosses 15 peaks.
We went up to the Mournes for a weekend and I fell in love with the scenery. The drawing is stitched together from our own family photos from that trip. It is our newest design, so it has no customer stories yet. I would love to hear yours.
Paul
Nature Claddagh
The Claddagh ring comes from the fishing village beside Galway city: hands for friendship, heart for love, crown for loyalty.
I love the imagery of the Claddagh ring and wanted a Due South version of it. So I worked in what we love most: mountains and trees.
Paul
Friendship, love and loyalty
Watch: Nature Claddagh
The old Galway symbol, worn out among the mountains and trees it was redrawn with.
Wexford and the sea
Hook Head
Over 800 years old and one of the oldest working lighthouses in the world.
We live in Wexford, and during Covid, Hook Head was where we went whenever we were allowed. After weeks of staying close to home, standing under an 800-year-old lighthouse with the sea crashing in felt like the biggest day out in the world.
Paul
Basking Shark
The biggest fish in Irish waters, first recorded here in 1739.
We are in Wexford, and there are lots of basking sharks out near the Saltees. We had opened Waveborn, so it felt like a nice tie-in. They fascinate me, and I would love to see one up close. I never have. Yet.
Paul
The gentle giant
Watch: Basking Shark
The biggest fish in Irish waters, and one of our favourite drawings to watch out in the world.
Vitamin Sea
This one gave me a lot of joy to draw. It is a medicine bottle. On the front, the bottle is closed. Turn around and it is open on the back, with the sea life and the sunshine spilling out. It is my way of saying what every Irish sea swimmer already knows. A dip is good for the body and good for the head.
Paul
Your regular dose
Watch: Vitamin Sea
For every sea swimmer who knows a dip is good for the body and good for the head.
Uisce Beatha
Irish for water of life, and what we lovingly call whiskey.
So here is our twist. There is no whiskey in this glass. It is the ocean, the waters around Ireland, and to us that is the real water of life. It keeps us alive, literally and figuratively.
Paul
Ebb & Flow
The ebb and flow of the sea, and of life too. The ups and the downs, and a reminder that this too shall pass.
Paul
Atlantic Sunset
For the many sunsets I have watched, and the many I still hope to watch. The best ones are never planned. You pull the car in, everyone goes quiet, and nobody reaches for a phone.
Paul
Words, bikes and wandering
Solas
Irish for light.
We have so many dark winter days that the light and the sun are a big part of our lives. I wanted a daily reminder.
Paul
Ar do Rothar
Irish for on your bike.
It is what every Irish kid was told at some point, usually meaning: off you go. I mean it in the nicest way. This one is for all the bike lovers in our community.
Paul
Made to be worn again and again
Watch: Ar do Rothar
Soft organic cotton, made to last. A tee to wear again and again, not once and forgotten.
Bauhaus Bike
A nod to the Bauhaus era of design and architecture. Clean lines, simple shapes, nothing that doesn't need to be there. It is how I try to draw everything.
Paul
Made 2 Wander
A mix of everything we love. This is our adventure mindset in one drawing. Our best days have usually started with no plan and a full tank.
Paul
Make Waves
Make waves in the world. I kept it as a small logo on purpose, because you don't need to do something big to have an impact.
Paul
Out in nature
Watch: Ar do Rothar and Glendalough
This is what it is all about for us: getting out into nature, on foot or on two wheels. Spot the Ar do Rothar and Glendalough tees along the way.
Just for fun
99s
Who doesn't love a 99? My father-in-law is from Italy and had never had one. Once he got a taste for them, he would eat two in a row, and probably at least three in a day.
Paul
Got a story of your own?
If one of our designs is your place, we would love to hear about it. Email us at info@duesouth.ie or tag us on Instagram.
For longer reads about Irish places and walks, visit The Journal.