Our first guest speaker this semester was Caoimhe Kelly, an Irish footwear designer and brand consultant based
in London. She shared her personal journey, starting as a children’s footwear designer before moving on to
roles at Timberland, M&S, and a luxury footwear brand in Italy. Listening to her story was really inspiring. It
highlighted how unpredictable a design career can be and how you never quite know where your path will lead.
After her talk, Caoimhe ran a hands-on workshop. We were divided into groups of four and each team was
assigned a shoe brand. My group worked on Hoka. We began by analysing the brand’s aesthetic, values, target
audience, and market positioning. We then created a mood board focused on themes relevant to their current
customers and developed three original shoe design concepts.
Hoka is known for its bold, chunky silhouettes and strong focus on comfort and performance. Our group
enjoyed exploring how to evolve that signature look while keeping the brand’s identity strong. The workshop
gave me a lot of insight into how designing something that seems as simple as shoes can actually be very exciting
and complex. It involved balancing creativity, brand heritage, functionality, and market appeal all at once.
Once the workshop ended, every group presented their concepts. This was another great opportunity for me to
practise and improve my presentation skills.
Overall, the session was both fun and eye-opening. It showed me the real process brands go through when
developing new products and made me realise how challenging yet rewarding that creative process can be.