Designer Helen Steele: ‘I’ve thrown darts at condoms filled with paint to watch the colours fly’

What’s your earliest memory?

Making daisy chains in our back garden in Maynooth with my mother, my older brother Ted and best friend, and my mum has a picture of the three of us.

When and where were you happiest?

I’ve been lucky, there have been so many times, but definitely I think the last two years in Dublin. The kids are grown up and doing well. I do miss them being small, and I’m happy that my career is at the point it’s at. I loved Monaghan, I really did, but I don’t miss the long commutes.

What is your biggest insecurity?

Going blind.

What’s your least, and your most, attractive trait?

The least is that I’m very impulsive, so that gets me into terrible trouble all the time. Most attractive? I’d be a positive person.

What trait do you deplore most in others?

Bad manners.

What’s the first thing you’d do if you were Taoiseach?

I’d change the rules about Dare (Disability Access Route to Education) for people who have learning difficulties like dyspraxia and ADHD. Educational psycholgists should be involved in making decisions to define what someone’s future is going to be.

Who would you most like to go for a pint with?

Vivienne Westwood and Charlie Chaplin. We would go to Grogans pub in Dublin.

What is your most treasured possession?

A sable painting brush that my grandmother gave me when I was 12.

What’s your guiltiest pleasure?

I won’t get out of bed in the morning unless I know there’s chocolate or Nutella in the house, because that’s my breakfast every morning.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

‘What you put into it is what you get out of it’, and it’s so true. This used to be repeated to us several times a week by the headmistress in boarding school in Rathnew.

When did you last cry, and why?

I cried last week when I saw an image of rows of babies that had passed away in Gaza.

Who would play you in a film of your life?

Tilda Swinton.

Do you believe in a god?

Yes, I do.

What’s your favourite word?

Happy, and also colour.

Have you a favourite colour?

Oh no, that’s like asking who is your favourite child!

What’s the last TV show you binge-watched?

Killers of the Flower Moon, which is just fantastic.

What advice would you give your 18-year-old self?

Don’t listen to negativity and trust in yourself.

If you could have a super power, what would it be?

I’d love to be able to read people’s minds.

What’s your most embarrassing moment?

When they were small, one of my kids jumped into a jacuzzi on holidays and did a poo. I had to scoop it out and I was struggling to get out, and the former Formula One racing driver Mika Häkkinen came to help me out, took my hand, and it was the one with the poo in it!

Tell us a secret...

In the past, I’ve thrown darts at condoms filled with paint to watch the colours fly, and for the artwork in Kraftwerk, my latest collection for Dunnes, inspired by the music of the German electronic band, I razorbladed the paint so it looks like the sound desk moving.

What’s the worst job you’ve ever done?

As punishment for not getting good grades in my summer exams, I was sent to work on a piggery that my dad had at the time. I brought Johnson’s Baby Shampoo down to give the piglets and their mum a bath, like you’d wash a dog. They were so intelligent, so cute, but I got fired for doing that.

What song would you like played at your funeral?

To The End by Blur.

​Helen Steele is taking part in the online art sale ‘Incognito’ in aid of the Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation. Each original postcard-size artwork costs €65 and the collection goes live on April 4, with the sale taking place on April 24. incognito.ie