04-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
‘There's been designs I thought were brilliant and only sold five in three years', says Dirt Bird artist
But Sarah Devereux, the Dublin-based artist behind the irreverent The Dirt Bird brand, can be hard to miss with her colourful, florescent designs.
The 35-year-old has made a name for herself for her modern and subversive take on Irish expressions and culture seen on jewellery, accessories, clothing and classic decorations.
Ms Devereux, originally from Co Carlow, has been selling her works online and across various Dublin markets such as the Fumbally in the Liberties or Le Zeitgeist Flea in Phibsboro.
She describes The Dirt Bird as 'always somewhat separate, more of a persona than a brand'.
'I have such a weird relationship with The Dirt Bird because I feel like I created it, but I'm unsure of how much of that creation was conscious or unconscious,' she said.
'It's such a colourful person to put into the world, whereas I'm more introverted. I think The Dirt Bird is the part of me that is very much a performer.
'It's very humour based, ridiculous and over the top,' she added.
The brand has been breaking codes and conventions since its inception when Ms Devereux was a student in NCAD.
'The Dirt Bird first emerged in the second or third year of college. I was doing an exhibit and chose to do it in the toilet of the gallery instead,' she said.
'I was definitely pushing the envelope. I really set out to be bold and shocking, and I loved it.'
ADVERTISEMENT
That penchant for shock and boldness saw her coined The Dirt Bird, and since then, Ms Devereux has been 'pushing her out into the world'.
Showcasing her work to potential clients at markets is nothing new, even if her very first foray didn't go according to plan.
'I was a young child and I'd set up a table outside my house where I basically sold all my toys to my neighbour for a shiny coin,' she said.
'I then desperately cried at her front door, asking for them back the next day when I fully realised what I had done.'
As an adult, Ms Devereux recalls her first big market at the Dublin Flea, just across from the 3Arena.
She remembers it as the start of the belief The Dirt Bird would become something, but said not taking rejection of her product as a rejection of herself has been a 'learning curve'.
'You can still be surprised by who will actually be engaging with the stall and buying something. I've gotten somewhat better at figuring it out,' she said.
'They could be enthusiastic, chatting to you for twenty minutes and then say bye without actually buying anything.
'Some people might not say a word and you'd think, 'Oh god, they don't like anything here', and then they spend fifty quid.'
The cost of living crisis has also forced her to think about the balance between 'what sells' and 'what her humour likes'.
'I love colour and silliness and I might go bolder or more political. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't. There's been designs where I thought they were brilliant and then sold five in three years,' she said.
Her 'Gas B**ch' design found on t-shirts and pins is her most successful and 'literally pays her gas bills'.
'There's a quote that says if you're doing what you love, you're not working a day in your life, but it's rather if you work with something you love, you never fully clock out.'
Among her inspirations is growing up in her native Carlow and seeing plates with the late American president John F Kennedy 'in every home'.
She has since created unique screen-printed plates filled with beloved Irish colloquialisms.
'I'd also include Ann Doyle and Nadine Coyle in some of my works,' she added.
