Rooted in a place called Innisfree.
Where the name comes from, the people behind it, and why this work matters to me.
It comes from my grandparents’ cottage on a small island, a place our family has always called Innisfree, named after W.B. Yeats’ The Lake Isle of Innisfree.
In the poem, Yeats imagines a place of peace, simplicity and stillness: somewhere to step away from the noise and return to what matters.
That spirit has always felt true to our Innisfree, too.
The island was a place where life slowed down.
Where days were shaped by the weather, meals lasted longer, people sat together and talked, and there was time to notice things. Some of my strongest memories are simply of being there with my grandparents and family: creating, exploring, helping with whatever needed doing, and being together without much distraction.
Those memories mean even more to me now.
My grandfather has since passed away, and my grandmother now lives in a care home with very limited mobility. Innisfree holds a chapter of our family life that I can’t return to in quite the same way.
But the values I associate with it have stayed with me: connection, presence, curiosity, simplicity, and making time for the people around you. They have also shaped how I think about aging, care and what makes a life feel meaningful.
That became even more personal when my dad was diagnosed with young-onset Alzheimer’s.
Caring for him has changed the way I see the world. It has made dignity, independence, belonging, access and quality of life more than ideas I encounter through my work. They are things I think about every day.
I’ve seen how much small details matter, how important it is to understand the person behind a challenge, and how powerful the right support, technology, community or idea can be at the right moment.
Together, these experiences have become a kind of compass for me.
- 01To stay curious.
- 02To slow down enough to listen.
- 03To look for the human story underneath a problem.
- 04To bring people together rather than design in isolation.
- 05To spend my time on things that leave people, organizations and communities better than I found them.
That is the spirit behind Innisfree Studio.
It is a home for work at the intersection of strategy, innovation and design: helping organizations make sense of complex challenges, understand the people they serve, imagine what could be different, and turn those ideas into meaningful action.
And I want the values behind the name to extend beyond client work. Giving back, contributing to my community, and using what I know in service of things I care about are part of how I want to build both the studio and my life.
Yeats imagined Innisfree as a place he could return to.
For me, it has become something similar. Not only a place, but a reminder of where I come from, what I care about, and the kind of work and life I want to build.
ErynHave something you’re working through?
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