Curious by Design
Curious by Design is a podcast about how things get built, and why they end up the way they do.
Every product, city, system, and business is the result of a series of choices. Some intentional. Some accidental. Some brilliant. Some… less so.
Hosted by Jason Hardwick, this show explores the thinking behind the work: the history, the tradeoffs, the constraints, and the invisible decisions that shape the world around us. From design and engineering to culture, technology, and everyday systems we take for granted, each episode pulls on a single thread and follows it deeper than expected.
This isn’t a how-to podcast.
It’s a why-did-they-do-that podcast.
If you’ve ever looked at something and wondered how it came to be—or how it could’ve been designed better, you’re in the right place.
Welcome to Curious by Design.
Curious by Design
Why We Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day
This episode is only available to subscribers.
Curious by Design +
Exclusive access to premium content!Bonus Episode — Why We Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day
A Curious by Design Subscriber Special
Green shirts.
Green rivers.
Green beer.
Every March 17th, the world turns green—but most of what we associate with St. Patrick’s Day didn’t actually begin in Ireland.
In this subscriber special of Curious by Design, we explore how a quiet religious feast day honoring a 5th-century missionary transformed into one of the most recognizable cultural celebrations in the world.
The story begins with Saint Patrick, a kidnapped teenager from Roman Britain who was enslaved in Ireland before eventually returning as a Christian missionary. After his death around the year 461, March 17th became a modest religious observance in Ireland—more about church services and family meals than parades or parties.
The modern celebration took shape somewhere else entirely.
Irish immigrants in 18th- and 19th-century America used St. Patrick’s Day parades as public expressions of identity and pride during a time of intense discrimination. Over time, symbols evolved: the shamrock, the color green tied to Irish nationalism, and eventually traditions like green beer and massive parades.
This episode traces how religion, immigration, politics, and tourism layered together over centuries to create the holiday we recognize today—one that eventually became so popular abroad that Ireland itself re-imported the celebration in the 1990s.
St. Patrick’s Day didn’t just appear fully formed.
It evolved—
through migration, culture, and reinvention.
And once you see the layers behind it, March 17th starts to look a little different.
That’s Curious by Design.
