Time for ‘Piece’
As the bridge between Christmas and New Year is the time that we associate with aspirations for peace, a new exhibition inspired by the theme of peace, but entitled ‘Piece’, runs in the National Craft Gallery, Kilkenny (2 December 2005 – 29 January 2006). Thirteen artists were selected to show a very diverse range of work in ceramics, jewellery, glass, textiles and mixed media, expressing the artists’ personal interpretation of the theme. The exhibition is organised by Craftmark, a partnership of County Down Crafts and Louth Craftmark, and is funded by The EU Programme for Peace & Reconciliation. The exhibition will travel from the Down Arts Centre in Downpatrick, County Down, where on 8 September, Frances Lambe was awarded the Piece Prize for her work entitled Slab. The prize will give Lambe the opportunity to have her own website designed and hosted – a savvy award that acknowledges that it’s not enough to excel in the applied arts; you must also publicise. Frances Lambe is also a founder member of the Bridge Street Studios, an artists group whose members include textile designers, ceramicists and painters. The work of this talented collective can be seen at their exhibition in the Basement Gallery, Dundalk from 2-19 December. The group promise a visit will inspire some unique gift-giving.
 
Cutting Edge Jewellery
Rudolf Heltzel is one of Ireland’s foremost jewellery designers and makers. German by birth, he has lived and worked in Kilkenny since 1966, and in 1968, founded his own company, specialising in innovative and personal jewellery. ‘If I say that I make jewellery because I enjoy it, I am not telling the full truth,’ says Heltzel. ‘I would not enjoy manufacturing mass-produced jewellery. I would not enjoy working with imitation materials. I would not enjoy copying other makers’ designs. I do enjoy making a particular kind of jewellery. I have to be challenged: to come up with designs that are different to conventional jewellery designs, designs that reflect my personality and my way of thinking. The making of each piece should also in some way be challenging: I want to use difficult techniques, explore new methods and use rare and beautiful stones – the best of materials.’
 
Collectors Ireland
Those with an interest in collectibles will welcome the announcement by the Crafts Council of Ireland of a Collectors Event at The Hunt Museum in Limerick (8 – 23 December 2005). The exhibition will include pieces by Ireland’s leading lights in the applied arts, all of which will be for sale, and springs from the Crafts Council commitment to initiate collectors’ events within Ireland. Three or four similar exhibitions are planned each year by Collectors Ireland, a group that emerged from Portfolio, a new facility by the Crafts Council of Ireland to link designers/makers with high-end buyers. The Hunt Museum houses one of Ireland’s greatest private collections of antiquities and art, reflecting the tastes and interests of the two people who formed it: John and Gertrude Hunt. The collection, which ranges from the Neolithic to the 20th century, formed over their lifetime with each object being chosen according to the quality of design, craftsmanship and artistic merit. In many ways, The Hunt Collection is more of an ‘accumulation’ than a ‘collection’ in the traditional sense of the meaning. The Hunts never intended to form a collection as such; acquisition was less about ownership than their need to study these items at close quarters until their curiosity was satisfied. The museum stands as a monument to the enthusiasm and curiosity of two remarkable individuals who, in a lifetime together, assembled a unique collection.
 
Christmas Presence
For Christmas presents that are not part of the consumer nightmare, and a shopping experience more pleasant than a frenzied trawl through the shopping centres, the National Craft Gallery presents a selection of contemporary Irish craft, with prices to suit every pocket: the annual Christmas Presence at the RDS. This year’s show (7–11 December 2005) promises to be stylish, contemporary and tempting.
 
Feast for the Eyes
Despite the title of this exhibition (which runs from 25 November – 22 December in the West Cork Arts Centre), Feast has nothing to do with food. The travelling exhibition by members of the West Cork Craft & Design Guild is a visual rather than a culinary feast, which celebrates the creative talents of West Cork. Using tables by Nick Smith and Simon Hassett as a starting point, curator Michelle Mitton has combined a wonderful range of disciplines including ceramics, glass, textiles, jewellery, woodwork and sculpture, in a rich diversity of mediums, textures and colours. Table lamps combine ironwork from Paddy McCormack with shades by print artist Wendy Dison while Helen Stringer provides sumptuous felt table runners. Gana Roberts’ fused glasswork incorporates silver jewellery by Baerbel Schulz-Voss. Rory Conner’s cutlery mixes beautifully with ceramics from Etain Hickey, Patricia McCoy, Sara Flynn, Julian Smith, Leda May, David Seeger and Jim Turner. Furniture maker Alison Ospina’s chair sits alongside Steve Pawsey’s contemporary sculptural table. Glassware from Carin McCana and Michael Ray complement Marika O’Sullivan’s enamelled silverware. Silver and gold inlaid napkin rings by Sabine Lenz hold Italian wool fibre napkins by Paula Marten as well as luxurious linen napkins by lace specialist Eleanor Calnan. In the courtyard of the gallery, visitors can view sculptures in wood, copper and steel by Anthony Cornforth and Len Clatworthy. The exhibition also includes a wonderful marionette by Maria Aida Pegler, sculpture by Linda Sebeo-Cohu and Thomas Kay, woodcarving by Ben Russell and textiles by Sally Smart. The most notable feature of Feast this year is the spirit of collaboration in what are traditionally solitary disciplines.
 
Achill Crafts
Ronan Halpin was born in County Louth in 1958. He graduated with a degree in sculpture from NCAD in 1982 and from the Yale School of Art in the US with a Masters in Fine Art Sculpture in 1984. In August 1998, Halpin moved with his family to Achill Island where he had been a regular visitor since childhood. He now runs a studio gallery in Keel, Achill, during the summer months. His work draws on archaeology and literature, and from life experience; he finds inspiration in the landscape and seascape that surround him. His public commissions include The Source in Drogheda, and Keepers of the Threshold in Dundalk. One of his most well-known works is The Wounded King, a fifteen-foot sculpture on which Halpin collaborated with Paki Smith. Having worked with metal for the past twenty years, he has developed a unique approach to his material: combining steel and brass, and often paint. Halpin has expanded his repertoire to include furniture and lighting, and is currently compiling a new body of work which he plans to exhibit in Dublin next year.
 
Bespoke Furniture
Cabinetmaker Brian Murray designs and makes customised one-off furniture, specialising in marquetry and using native and exotic woods including burrs, figured and rippled woods. ‘My work is designed to suit a client’s needs and taste, rather than any pre-conceived design philosophy. I believe that form follows function and any piece, whether it is a period piece or thoroughly modern will stand alone and be pleasing to the mind’s eye; a bit like the Japanese who believe that even man-made items have a soul.’
 
Conran at WATERFORD
In what promises to be a fruitful collaboration, Jasper Conran is now working with Waterford Crystal to give the company his own particular flavour of contemporary elegance. Conran has a talent for bringing something new to a familiar medium, and his new collections, Rain and Shine, are inspired by the way that both light and water change the look of crystal.
 
Jewelled signals
Irene Brennan, goldsmith, began her jewellery career at the age of thirteen, under the tuition of a master goldsmith in Kilkenny. Since 1996 she has been running her own jewellery business, IMB Design, now located in Paul Street, Cork City. She divides her time between Cork and her home town of Kilkenny where her main workshop is based – a rotation that ‘offers great freedom and enriches both my jewellery design and enthusiasm to find new ways of creating wonderful pieces’. Brennan feels jewellery provides a lot of information about the wearer: ‘It has become the means by which people define themselves. By wearing jewellery we send signals that only some people understand and appreciate – only these people are of interest to you.’ She works mainly in gold, platinum, diamonds and other gemstones, and her unusual influences come from her interest in the great outdoors: windsurfing, kart racing, horse riding and hiking.
 
Innovative Irish Knitwear
You could describe the many products available through Cleo Knitwear in Kenmare, as innovative perspectives on the traditional Irish sweater. The Megalithic Sweater series is inspired by stone carved prehistoric rock art, but in a way that is quite specific to its origins. The design for the Loughcrew hand-knit jacket is based on the rock art at Loughcrew, while the Newgrange sweater is inspired by the entrance stone known as Kerbstone 1 at Newgrange. Cleo also expands into more exclusive ranges, which they describe as wearable art. These include one-off items, like the Una Crowe Velvet Dress, incorporating spectacular Celtic swirls using print, paint and dévoré techniques, and the hand-felted and appliquéd Secret Garden Coat by Teresa Searle.
 
Sparks of inspiration
SPARK is a community of craftspeople living and working in Counties Donegal and Tyrone. All SPARK participants are members of the Donegal Craft Guild: talented people working in out-of-the-way places, combining traditional skills with contemporary design. Anne Hyland designs a new range of contemporary knitwear, which is locally produced. The label includes suits for special occasions, felted bags, scarves and jumpers, and was selected as one of the Index top 100 winners at Showcase 2005. At Donagh Artworks Sharon McDaid works in textiles and mixed media to produce innovative pieces that feature a range of techniques including printing, hand-dying, stitching and painting, while Elaine and Lyndsey McGonigle’s pieces are produced at the McGonigle Glass Design Studio using slumping, fusing, sand-casting, blown, engraving and enamelling to make bright and bold glass pictures and jewellery.
 
Ceramic flair
Louise O’Boyle works primarily in clay, both stoneware and earthenware, frequently combining the ceramic base with elements of textiles, metal, glass, and with found objects. It’s a flexible approach that gives her work a flair that’s often lacking from that of more conventional ceramicists. Her sculptures are often highly coloured with delicate and detailed modelling. Some are tiny collectibles, like the Houses on Hills range, none of which measure more than fifteen centimetres in any dimension, and look best standing in family groups. O’Boyle also works to commission: a recent example on display at Derry Credit Union details the handprint of Amy Drummond, the first child to save in that branch. O’Boyle, who is based in Ballymena, is interested in exploring the artist’s role in society as social commentator. Public examples of her work are on display at the Ballymena Central Library and at the Causeway Hospital, Coleraine.
 
Designer craft fair in Dungarvan
The Old Market House Arts Centre in Dungarvan, Co Waterford is hosting its annual Christmas Art & Designer Craft Exhibition, from 29 November – 23 December. The exhibition will feature work by selected artists and craftworkers. This is an opportunity to acquire a handcrafted Christmas gift from a wide range of paintings, ceramics, jewellery, photography, and woodcraft. The centre’s opening hours will be extended: Mon–Fri 10–5pm, Sat 10–6pm.
 
Irish Furniture Oscar
The first Irish Furniture Oscar, was presented at Create 2005 by John Makepeace, a British furniture designer-maker of international reputation, ‘to the person whose luxurious exhibit, in my view, does most to enhance the brand of Irish Furniture’. The winner, a sideboard called Black Monday, is a collaborative piece by Neil and Annabel McCarthy of Nest Furniture. The husband and wife design team are based in Midleton, Co Cork, where all their furniture is designed and made in their workshop. ‘It was very unexpected,’ said Annabel McCarthy. ‘We thought that the winner would be a piece that was more obviously crafted. Ours has much more emphasis on the design.’ Black Monday is a long low sideboard that McCarthy describes as: ‘A sleek, sexy, seamless piece with very little detail. It’s entirely sprayed with black lacquer, right up to the rim of the walnut top. There are no handles; you open the drawers by way of a recess.’ The name ‘Black Monday’ is an ironic comment on the €5,200 price tag. ‘It’s a very expensive piece, more so than most of our other work; it looks like it would break the bank!’
 
Gilded framework
Recently returned from New York, gilder and restorer Sarah Jane Williams has set up shop in Dublin’s Portobello, where she specialises in water gilding. ‘I use gesso, boule, and gold leaf; basically it’s the same process that was used in Egypt thousands of years ago. I even make the gesso and boule myself from rabbit skin, but I polish the gold with an agate instead of using the traditional dog’s tooth!’ Williams will gild just about anything, but the usual candidates are mirror frames, overmantels, chairs, and antique picture frames.
 
Is this a tree or what?
Duff Tisdall maintains its standing as one of Ireland's most innovative design companies with a new selection of high-quality and distinctive pieces to complement the range of sophisticated furniture they design and manufacture in their Dublin workshop. Sourced from leading design-led manufacturers in Ireland, Scandinavia, and southern Europe, the new range includes 'Is this a tree or what?!' , a wall-mounted coat hanger from a classic Swedish furniture manufacturer started by Yngve Ekstrom, one of Sweden's leading furniture designers in the golden years of 'Scandinavian Modern'.
 
Precious metals
Fiona Kerr’s jewellery designs are inspired by a combination of nature and geometry: ‘The main themes in my work are light, colour and movement. I like to incorporate movement into a piece of jewellery without it looking too technical and to use a combination of precious metals and precious stones to bring light and colour to the work.’ Celtic Chaos takes its cue from Celtic art and the randomness of nature; each piece individually constructed from silver and yellow gold to make a pod-like construction within which silver balls are visible through drilled holes in the upper surface. The Marconi range is inspired by the simplicity of the dot/dash symbols of Morse code and comes in three variations: polished silver, polished and satin silver combination and polished silver with a selection of gemstones.
 
Peter Brennan Ceramic Award
The inaugural Peter Brennan Ceramic Award was presented at the Ceramics Ireland Exhibition, Dalkey Castle, on 23 October. Elaine Riordan was awarded the prize for her innovative eight piece ‘Architectural Study’, a miniature cityscape made in porcelain paper clay. Riordan, who also won the Architectural Decorative category in the RDS National Craft Competition 2005, is inspired by the buildings of New York, the concept of a city in time and space, and the fragility of large buildings in the world after 9/11. The exhibition included other notable pieces: Henry Pim’s strange and wonderful trilogy of conglomerates, Grainne Watt’s organic Marine Forms, and Tina Byrne’s lightboxes, in which light was directed through a thin and textured porcelain skin.
 
Master Goldsmith
The jeweller Niamh Ní Mhathúna Utsch comes from Cashel, Co Tipperary. Daughter of the legendary silversmith, Padraig Ó Mathúna, she grew up in the Irish gold and silversmithing world, before leaving for Germany where she spent over ten years studying and working with goldsmith masters. She now lives in Dingle where she sells her work from her gallery, NU Goldsmith, which she opened in 1996. Ní Mhathúna Utsch works mainly in gold, silver and platinum to her own designs, which show chunky formality with a distinct German influence. The combination of precious materials and strong fluid forms give her jewellery a distinctive character, a reflection of her own opinion that jewellery is an extension of the natural beauty and character of the person wearing it.
 
Form and function
Design is about visuals, but also about utility. Bang & Olufsen’s BeoSound 2, a pocket-size MP3 player, weighs only ninety grams, is made of stainless steel, and can withstand being dropped onto a concrete floor from a height of two metres. It can also be operated blindfolded. This is not just a gimmick, as any MP3 enthusiast will recognise – one is always trying to operate the gadget from within a bag while doing several other things at the same time. Nicknamed the UFO, the small silver digital music player was designed by David Lewis to rest comfortably in the palm of your hand, allowing for thumb tip navigation of the control panel. Another stunning design, the BeoCom 2 telephone is crafted from a single piece of aluminium to sit naturally in the hand, its gentle curve matching the shape of the human face.
 
Art underfoot
The vibrant textile designs of Graham Knuttel will be on display in the Bold Art Gallery, Galway, from 1–8 December. Knuttel’s vibrant collection of three-dimensional hand-tufted rugs are made by The Dixon Carpet Company, Oughterard, (previously V’Soske Joyce Ltd) a company which have a history of collaboration with Irish and international designers of the stature of Philipe Starck and Louis le Brocquy. Carpet design is a good medium for Knuttel; the new designs promise a multiplicity of stories, interpretations and views depicted in wonderful colours. The carpets are physically luxurious, using innovative blends of wool, linen and silk and, although the pieces can also be wall-hung, this is art that you can walk on.
 
Let there be light
Lighting designer Niamh Barry launched her new range of lighting, with an emphasis on clean lines and a play on everyday objects, at Plan Expo in November. The work is far from traditional, but some of her materials have long been associated with lighting design. Barry regularly travels to Venice to oversee the production of hand-made Murano crystal, an element frequently used in her designs, and one with which the island has been associated since 1700. ‘I feel that without good lighting an amazing interior can be average, but with good lighting an average interior can be amazing,’ says Barry, who has also been commissioned to design three ranges for National Lighting. Examples of her work can be seen in the Ice Bar in the Four Seasons Hotel, in the O2 Club in The Point, and in Castleknock Hotel & Country Club, although she also designs bespoke pieces.
 
Escape to Ashford
For those seeking some respite from the stresses of the Christmas season, where better than the historic estate of Ashford Castle on the shores of Lough Corrib in Co Mayo. Founded in 1228 by the Anglo-Norman de Burgo family, Ashford has a fascinating architectural history: a fortified enclave was built by Lord Bingham, governor of Connaught, in the 16th century; a French-style chateau was added by the Oranmore and Browne family in the 18th century; in the 19th century Sir Benjamin lee Guinness extended the estate to 26,000 acres, and his son Lord Ardilaun oversaw the development of massive woodlands and rebuilt the west wing of the castle; and the 20th century witnessed the restoration of the Castle and its transformation into a hotel. Today Ashford Castle is one of the world’s top resort hotels, a tranquil retreat where guests can do as little or as much as they choose, from painting classes to fishing and archery, in one of the most beautiful parts of Ireland. Ashford's Christmas and New Year programmes are particularly tempting.
 
Chairs for little ones
In a new departure, Green Wood Chairs in West Cork have just launched a pint-sized version of their eco-friendly big person’s chair, and called it ‘My Chair’. The maker of the chair, Alison Ospina, was mindful of ‘giving children a small place of their own where adults cannot fit’. They want to examine and touch it; their fingers searching for the rough and smooth, the bark and the polished surface.’ Each one is handmade from locally coppiced hazel wood in West Cork, a timber that has long been associated with magical fairy wisdom, vibrancy of spirit, poetic inspiration and ancient Celtic knowledge – so the perfect material for creating chairs for little ones!

Eleanor Flegg is a freelance journalist who specialises in design