The Claddagh Pint
The Claddagh Pint
The Claddagh Pint design is one that I’m most proud of. As you may have seen from elsewhere on my site, I’m a divil for taking traditional Irish designs and updating them with nods to modern Ireland. I’ve got art from the book of Kells by way of everyone’s favourite Blue Heeler (Celtic Bluey), Ogham Stone that plays Joe Dolan (Ogham Me, Ogham My!) and a spinning Brigids Cross (The Brigid Spinner). However, the pint was the one that resonated best with most of my followers.
I first released it in March 2022 and while I’d like to say that it exploded and sold out instantly like the Lady on the Rock, the truth is that it was a real slow burner. That said, it has since become my best seller and I’ve made a few variations of it. At the time of writing, I’ve two more variants in the works, too!
How it came to be
I still remember pretty vividly how it came into my head. I was sitting at home on the couch, the dog on my legs (big dog, small legs) and I was looking at some old Irish jewellery on my iPad. This was a fairly common evening for me before our baby was born. Now I have a dog on my legs, a baby on my chest and Bluey on the telly. Anyway, I was playing around with the Claddagh design and for some reason I had Po, she from the Teletubbies in place of the Claddagh Heart. (Po looked more like Rudy Guiliani, truth be told). My friend Seán texted me, asking me how I was getting on, and he mentioned how he was enjoying a cheeky afternoon pint. I told him how jealous I was, I changed Po to a pint and I was floored with how iconic the design looked.
The Original design
Now, I’m not a great hand-drawer, so I took the idea and cleaned it up in Adobe Illustrator. It was too good to be mine. I must have stolen this from somewhere without knowing, I thought.
Too good to be true?
I contacted Hephee, Bunti Lee, Mink Superstore and a few other local illustrative heroes asking if they’d made this design before. They hadn’t. Hephee said he hadn’t but wished he had - I knew I was onto a winner from then on. That said, I still held my horses and I sat on this design for a little while longer.
I’m always very careful to check that whatever I release, hasn’t already been done by somebody else already. You see, about 6 months before I created the Claddagh Pint, I drew up a mouth inspired by the Rolling Stones logo, but changed the words under it to ‘Fridgets annonymous’. I was toying with the idea of making it into a pin, but it was mostly just a lockdown doodle that I had made. I threw it up on my Instagram stories and asked whether it would and within minutes I had some of the angriest and accusatory messages I’ve ever received from about five separate accounts. Someone else had made a badge that was similar in content and they all thought I was ripping them off. I wasn’t, but either way, it wasn’t an experience that I particularly enjoyed, so from that point on, I decided to ask around before posting anything concrete. I regularly google reverse-search or put out the images on my instagram with a ‘has this been done’ proviso to it, to be doubly-sure.
Getting it made
Once I was sure this was good to go, I ran with it. I had a hundred made up, I plastered it on my packaging and I made some accompanying stickers, keyrings and fridge magnets to accompany it. I was sure that this was going to be a winner, and while it didn’t prove to be instantly so (probably because the original photos were rubbish, see below), it has since become a fan favourite.
The Reaction and how far it’s gone
In the three years since I released this, it has become my best seller, only recently overtaking the Lady on the Rock pin. Not only that, this pin has travelled further afield than any other deadly pin. It has been sold, and found a home in Ireland, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherland, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, every county of the UK and 13 US states. Someone even took it to the Arctic Circle with them! I know of at least two foreign delegates at the UN who received one from one of my best customers too!
The OG Design vs the modern version
As for the design, I’ve made some changes to it over the years, to make it more wearable and pleasant on the eye. The original version had a black nickel outline to it. It’s not hugely noticeable from a distance, but considering there aren’t very many colours on the pin as is, I felt it was neater to make the outlines part of the body of the piece. This makes the piece feel considerably nicer as well as making it seamlessly beautiful up close. However, it does leave it a little bit more exposed to grubby fingerprints! Don’t handle it after a bag of crisps and you’ll be grand, though. The colour of the circle behind the hands has also being changed to be a little warmer and the hands have been tightened up a smidge too. Here’s a before and after for you to wrap your retinas around:
I’ve also made a larger version for bags, which sold well, a fridge magnet version a load of stickers and even a bottle-cap opener.
All that, and it’s still not done: I’m currently awaiting a gold version and a full silver version too, as well as a new non-alcoholic version! At the time of writing, it’s sold out (there was a major run on them at Christmas), but here’s the link to them - the product will be available to purchase as soon as it’s back in stock!
I’ve nothing more to add, let me know what you think about this one in the comments, follow me on instagram and encourage me to keep growing my TikTok.