Over the past five years the crafts in Ireland have reinvented themselves as a central force in post-modern, post-industrial society, writes Joseph McBrinn.
At the end of the first decade of the 21st century the relentless globalisation and conspicuous consumption in the design cultures of many western countries has found itself in crisis. In Ireland, like elsewhere, the rapacious rise of economic prosperity is now in eclipse. However, whilst at the start of this year one of Ireland’s oldest and most distinguished manufacturers Waterford Crystal (glass making in Waterford can trace its origins as far back as 1783) went into receivership, Belleek (who celebrated 150 years in 2007 and who are perhaps one of the few functioning industrial potteries in this part of Europe after the closure last year of Wedgwood) announced healthy profits. This resilience perhaps reflects the renaissance of Irish craft and design that, though the future of craft and design in Ireland had seemed doubtful.
