During the early years of Independence the Irish government embarked upon a programme to foster new industries. Audrey Whitty discusses both the utilitarian and creative aspects of one of those fledgling concerns, Arklow Pottery
Arklow Pottery was formally opened on Monday, 29 July 1935 by the then Minister for Industry and Commerce, Sean Lemass, approximately one year and five months after negotiations first began to bring an industry to this South Wicklow town. Land for the Pottery’s site had been arranged via a Deed of Exchange between Arklow Golf Club and the Harbour Commissioners in May 1934. In preparation for such a massive undertaking as Ireland’s second pottery (after Carrigaline) to be founded under the auspices of the Free State, designing classes were undertaken at the local Technical Institute where fifteen young women were recruited. Initially about 200 people were given employment by the Pottery, a figure that included approximately thirty individuals from the Staffordshire Potteries employed to teach their Irish colleagues the necessities involved in ceramic production
