Stepping into designer Helen Cody’s Dublin home is truly a visual treat. A powerful first impression made by the walls of striking art, a collection made up of her own work hanging among pieces by the many artists she knows and has befriended; interspersed with fascinating finds, including books and magazines full of inspiration, and objects that bring a smile to your face.

Although best known as a fashion designer making carefully crafted, bespoke pieces, Helen has also worked as a stylist, collaborated with craftspeople and artists, and worked in costume design. She draws every day, and says that being surrounded by art is key to her creativity.

“I think I’m a person who really needs a lot of visual stimulation,” she says. “It’s all part of my own work practice. It’s about embellishment, it’s about adornment. It’s about creating visual stories.”

The house was never intentionally “designed”, she explains, but is the result of cherished pieces accumulated over many years. She can tell you who each piece of art is by, where she got it from, why it means something to her, and quite often, about her personal relationship with that artist.

“There isn’t anything in the house that doesn’t have a resonance, an emotional connection. I know there are a lot of people who will collect art and they mightn’t have that same feeling, but I’m instinctual. If I have something, it’s because I love it.”

You can tell that art is essential to Helen; it fully lights her up. A particularly captivating piece by Maeve McCarthy hangs in the bathroom, under a skylight that allows you to fully appreciate its luminescence. “We sold our car to buy that one,” Helen says, simply. “It brings me joy every day of the year.”

She bought the house 25 years ago, but when she met her now husband, architect Rory Murphy, he saw the potential for it to become the space it is today. The house has expanded into a space where a shed once stood, which Helen worked in. Now, it unfolds into a series of bright, flowing
rooms. The couple’s tastes, although not identical, complement each other, telling the story of their lives together.

“Obviously, I think my husband is a genius,” Helen laughs. “He has such a beautiful architect’s eye, but then I love textures and art. I always say he’s like a perfect circle and I’m like a tangled ball of wool – somehow we cross over, and we make sense.”

While she used to design and create in a shed at the back of her home, Helen now has a studio in Dublin 8 where she and her small team work with clients to create their dream pieces. “I love the process of things slowly evolving,” Helen says, which goes from an initial conversation, to making a toile, picking fabrics and tweaking details, to the finished product.

“Just seeing the joy in their face. We often get beautiful cards, and clients send us photographs of a day that goes down in the history of their lives. It’s a huge deal to be part of somebody else’s story in that way. It never gets old.”

It’s a testament to the value of this considered process, and the quality of her pieces, that Helen says she now gets sent pictures from clients who have passed clothes on to their daughters. She doesn’t underestimate the power of her creations. “It’s my job to make you look as good as possible, to make you feel strong and confident”, often on a day full of heightened emotion, whether that’s a wedding, a milestone work event, or a birthday. “There’s always a psychological element to it.”

It’s not only the look that is important, Helen explains, but it’s also about how the clothes feel to wear. She only works with the finest quality materials, including feathers hand-dyed in Italy, and lace that has been hand-loomed in Calais. For her recent denim collection, she turned this lens on what is thought of as a humble fabric.

“I wear denim jeans all the time, but I wanted to elevate them. We used boning, we had bespoke zips made in Paris, and we have bronze-finished buttons. The pockets are lined in silk, which is bonkers, but they feel nice. We pre-stretch everything, and the waistbands on our jeans are all curved, because women are curved. When you buy jeans generally, you’re left with this horrible gap at the back that drives me mad.”

It’s the perfect example of the care and consideration that goes into each piece, something Helen hopes is not lost in the age of Instagram. She pulls up her own account to show me an image of an exquisite jacket that took her over three months to make, then flicks it away with her finger to show the next post, just as most of us will do when scrolling through our feeds, taking things in for just a few seconds that took months to come to fruition.

“You can’t produce things fast enough,” she notes, but she knows that her slow approach is the only way she would ever work. Her own home is the perfect case for stepping away from the relentless pace of the internet and following what you truly love – a space that weaves a story, and delights at every turn.