Defining design: new show celebrates Irish design talent

What's your favourite building in Ireland? The Berkeley Library in Trinity College for its curved windows and form. It inspired me to take up architecture and still inspires architects today.

My second favourite is Busaras, Dublin's first modernist building, by Michael Scott, with Pat Scott's mosaics.

Your least favourite building? The Convention Centre. [It is] out of scale for the quays and looks out of context. It is more suited to New York than Dublin. The space around the building looks unfinished.

How do you define design? We are surrounded by it every day and I think it is the beauty of the finished object, whether it is stone, glass or clay, and it is rooted in our Irish past.

What item to you most treasure? The iphone5 because is it beautifully designed and as I travel a lot I need to have my office with me. And I won't get lost with its maps.

What sort of things do you surround yourself with? Art, sculpture and lots of paints and canvasses awaiting a spare moment's indulgence. Nothing too orderly and a comfortable untidiness.

What do you detest? Dealing with mobile phone companies and telephone companies which don't even have a number to call the same person back when there is a problem. Continued overleaf

Do you have favourite items? The artichoke lamp by Poul Henningsen – timeless and works so well. The Eileen Gray adjustable side table – Aram holds the licence to make them. I like to be involved with things that promote social gatherings like our "7 Hands Crafts" expo coming to Dublin on November 17th to 27th.

What does good design mean to you? It's about knowing that a product you might buy and use will be fit for purpose and improve our daily lives. A coffee plunger, a mug, a chair, a bed or a piece of jewellery.

What materials or colours should be avoided? I avoid endangered hardwoods, and plastics. Plastic junk for one-off occasions should be banned. Strong colours need to last and not fade. I use them to accentuate certain rooms for fit-out architectural purposes. Round tables are better for communication than rectangular ones with the head at one end. I am fond of strong vibrant colours such as magenta both in architecture and in dress.

You are co-presenting a new TV series? Yes, with my friend the writer and curator Dr Sandra O'Connell, whom I have known for a long time. We both have kids the same age and we are both people oriented, love to travel and seek out new places and try out bars and restaurants.

Tips for TV dressing? Good strong block colours, no dots or stripes, and for the new series we tended to wear dark background colours and colourful silk scarves. We needed to keep the same six outfits over the 30 days' filming. I've been working in TV for more than 10 years.

What city stands out as a model of good design? Copenhagen is one of the most civilised cities in the world, and where I spent 18 months on a post graduate scholarship. The Danes have good design in their blood. Their streets prioritise the pedestrian and the cyclist. The car is not a status symbol.

If you could change one thing about Dublin, what would it be? Transport. The hire cycles are great, but we could take advantage of the Liffey more, with more useful transport and boat rides. We should use the coastline for safe walking and new cycle routes for 20 miles or more. We should restrict articulated lorries to the perimeter and park cars outside the city centre.

What is the aim of the tv series? We want to bring design to the public and show that we have something to celebrate, that we are a design island and have so much more to say. It is all about people and places and time. The environment we build affects us all as a community, so if we build a beautiful city, it will bring economic benefits and tourism.

Angela Brady OBE and Dr Sandra O’Connell are the writers and presenters of Designing Ireland, a series of four TV documentaries on Irish design that runs on Thursday nights at 10.15pm on RTÉ1.