The Essential List: Ger Roe
Ger Roe is one of the most decorated creatives in the Irish industry. He has collected numerous awards in every communications discipline and picked at most of the renowned creative and advertising awards shows home and abroad.
He’s judged and chaired at number of creative award shows and is also a board member of ICAD - the Institute of Creative Advertising and Design - and the Young Directors Award Ireland. If that wasn’t enough he also lectures in art direction and ideation at the Dublin Institute of Technology. He recently spoke about Dyslexia being a gift at an event in Dublin.
We’ve been warned not engage him on his hobbies, which we’re told he is likely to wang on about if given the chance. Whether it’s crossfit, triathlon, surfing or salmon fishing, he keeps himself busy.
So how could we resist asking him for his essential list?
Travel
o Place of birth: Ireland
o Hometown: Greystones, Wicklow, Ireland
o Staycation: Lough Currane in Kerry. Fish. Surf. Creamy pints. What’s not to like?
Lough Curraine
o Vacation: If I don’t say Spain is awesome, my life won’t be worth living [Ger’s wife is Spanish]
o Place of work: Eh work, the DART (which is an electric train), the Irish Sea and sometimes the middle of a river
o Place of workout: Perpetua Dublin (The home of the unbroken…and the broken in my case)
o Mode of transport: Land Rover Defender, DART and my bike
o Miscellaneous Travel Essential: Apple cider vinegar, bicarbonate of soda and a proper wool hat
Culture
o Artist: ‘Guernica’ in the Reina Sofia is still probably the only painting I’ve ever felt extremely emotional about
o Musician: Can’t single one out. Anything from Talk Talk, to Future Islands or Wild beasts
o Commercials director: I would love to work with Dougal Wilson. The man’s a legend
o Film director. Ah here I could be a while…Wes, Fincher, Gondry, Farrelly bros…
o Photographer: James our Head of Design in here got me into Gregory Crewdson
o Film: Withnail & I still at number 1. Then…Cinema Paradisio, Jaws, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
o Series: Loved Mindhunter, Ozark and I have a real soft spot for Rick Stein and poor old Chalky (RIP)
o Commercial: ‘Double Life’ for PlayStation and, more recently, brilliant Phelps for Under Armour
o Music Video: I’ll never properly get over Aphex twin ‘Window Licker’…dear mother of Jesus, what just happened?
o Video Game: Going back a bit, ‘Colin McRae Rally’ and now ‘Fort Knight’
o Book: ‘Sea Trout’ by Hugh Falkus, ‘Born to Run’ by Christopher McDougall and ‘Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This’ by Luke Sullivan
o Newspaper (off or online): The Times, probably
o Magazine: WALLPAPER
o Miscellaneous Art: Yes, it is
Food and Drink
o Breakfast: French toast with tomato ketchup and a strong coffee
o Restaurant: ETTO in Dublin is my latest fave. La Castela in Madrid. Just been there. It was riddico!
o Cheap bite: The Happy Pear, Greystones. The Red Lentil Dahl after a good long sea swim
o Working lunch: Probably a bowl of salad from Sprout & Co or at the end of the month a bargain hangsanger [translation: ham sandwich]
o Dish: Sunday, six-hour slow roast shoulder of pork, mash and homemade gravy… or wild sea trout (caught by me) with wild mushrooms (picked by my bro) all in Kerrygold butter (a client)
o Snack: Bag of Tayto - The greatest hangover cure on this earth (another client)
o Guilty Pleasure: Prestos. Best fresh cod n’ chips (not a client)
o Bar: Probus Dublin
o Tipple: Tipple? It’s Ireland, It’s triple. I’m livin’ up to a stereotype here. Glendalough gin, or a creamy pint of Beamish (Beamish is far better than a Guinness)
o Soft Tipple: Are you craictose intolerant or what?
o Miscellaneous food: Recently had “rabo de toro” (tail of the bull), or “my mother’s wild mushrooms in butter”…I’m crying here thinking about them.
Kit
o Phone: iPhone 7
o Computer: MacBook Pro (which is annoying the absolute shite out of me) and a stupidly big IMAC
o TV: On, with Leinster annihilating Munster by an unimaginable amount of points
o Headphones: Got me a pair of Marshalls, mainly because I had the worst knock off pair of ‘booz’ or something fake and the slagging from the crew in here became way too much
o Camera: My iPhone and Adobe Lightroom
o Pen / pencil: Marker actually. Edding 400
o Where you document an idea: Evernote and endless lil scamps in my cool notebook
o Casual wear: Yellow socks, colourful jocks and a fashionable frock
o Smart wear: I like Kooples and Antony Morato
o Footwear: Various colourful runners (that’s Irish for trainers or sneakers)
o Watch: GARMIN FOREUNNER 920XT because I truly think I’m a triathlete… (I’m more of a try athlete sadly)
o App: Love Instagram. @gerser. Come say hello
o Blog: Blog shmog. ICAD (Institute of Creative Advertising and Design). Check us out
o Work program: Photoshop, Illustrator, Keynote and Premier
o Work tools: Johnnie Cavan & Dessie Creepon. That’s 1-1 Lads ;)
o Morning grooming: Vigorous teeth scrubbing action and then I secretly rob some expensive moisturiser from my missus… oh and then I blow dry my hair for three hours
o Miscellaneous Kit Essential: A large number of very different friends from all ages and walks
