Bring a little colour into your Mammy’s heart, this Sunday with a Mother Days Gift  that will last all year long……….

Set of 4 dip bowls €45

Set of 3 pouring bowls €80

‘The Pocket garden’ €5 each

For the past month I have seen a transformation of my dark dated kitchen (which I have lived with since we bought the house over 2 years ago) into a beautiful light filled room that works perfectly. We did not do any structural work so the light is the same as before but its the difference that white surfaces can make. There is still a couple of finishing touches to be made and then I will show you some photos, but for now I just want to show off some beautiful pressies Andy brought me from my favourite shop in the States,  Anthropology………I can’t get enough of Anthropology its my idea of retail perfection (that comes from someone who is not into shopping) and it has brought spring into my new kitchen….

These two cuties are the latest addition to the Discovery Park…..they are not in the viewing area yet but you can see lots of deer in there and I’m sure the lambs will out very soon.

If you have time this week try these cookies, they are quick and easy to make and hits the spot with a nice cup of tea….

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

8 ounces of good choclate coarsely chopped

1. Beat the butter until it whitens then add sugar, beaten until well blended. Whisk egg and vanilla extract together and beat into the butter mixture.

2. Sift the flour, baking soda and baking powder together. Beat half the flour mixture into the butter mixture, then add the remaining flour mixture. Beat in the chopped walnuts and chocolate.

3. Preheat oven to 180 C/325 F spoon cookie mixture about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 mins. Enjoy

Can you have too many bowls? in my opinion… never. I get so much pleasure from just looking at stacks of different shaped and coloured bowls in my kitchen, its an added bonus to be able to use them. Check out some of my new bowls…

This is the official US Trailer for the amazing movie ‘The Secret of Kells’ where it goes on release for St. Patrick’s day. Who knows by then it might be sporting and Oscar! I am chuffed for Tom, Paul and all the gang at the Cartoon Saloon (just a bunch of incredibly young, talented, funny guys and gals based here in our little town of Kilkenny) and I got a great laugh to see Tom in this photo with all those other Oscar nominees……Tom your a Movie Starrrr

More lovelies from the shop……

Say you care with the cutest little heart dish……they come in this gorgeous gift box for only €10. They also make great wedding favours if you are that way inclined!

How cool is this little movie from the New Zealand Book Council (do other countries have book councils?)

Hot from the kiln………check out my brand new ‘Buttermilk range’ of everyday tableware here. Its a soft white glaze with a slight mother of pearl tinge, the shapes are both contemporary and nostalgic. I have lived with it for the past 12 months or so and I am so  happy with the shapes and the glaze, I love it and its great mixed in with my trade mark powder blue glaze.

I was very saddened to hear of the death of ceramic/print artist, John ffrench, last Friday. He was a real inspiration to me and many of my contemporarys. His work has a timeless quality and radiates happiness and he was a true gentleman that gave his time and information generously to younger potters like myself. I will cherish the very small collection of his work that I have and the joy I get from having it around me.  John ffrench 1928 to January 2010…

Click here for a nice tribute to his life in the Galway advertiser…

Showcase Ireland continues until Wed and as usual there is some talent to be found (plenty of the other as well). The Creative Ireland area is by far the highlight of the show with the odd gem to be found elsewhere. The textiles came out on top for me, there is some great talent still manufacturing work in Ireland……

Hope and Benson  gorgeous bags

You have to see for yourself how beautiful these clothes really are, impecable….by unicorn design

Edmund McNulty knitware is all about subtle tones and soft, soft wool

Paul Maloney Pottery is very fresh in colour and functional in design….

This week saw the launch of the ninth edition of the renowned ‘Bridgestone Guide’, an absolute for anyone who wants to source the best of artisan producers and great places to eat in your county (you might be surprised to learn about some you did not know existed). If your heading away for the weekend its all you will need.  Thanks John and Sally for the lovely mention,    

 ”The Jarrow Cafe….Fascinating food, and a truly lovely space, especially as the Estate Yard is home to a panjandrum of wonderfully gifted craftspeople, including Rosemaire Durr, one of our favourite potters….”

These cookies are very good and very simple to make. I was a bit more generous with the cinnamon and wrapped up a few in some greaseproof paper with a ribbon for a simple pressie….enjoy

Oat and walnut cookies

Makes 36

2 sticks or 8oz  salted butter, soft

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 cups oats

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350F

Cream butter and both sugars light and creamy.

Add milk and vanilla and mix well.

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each egg.

Add flour, spices and baking powder.

Stir until just combined.

Stir in the oats and walnuts.

Use about two tablespoons of mixture for each cookie.

Roll it into a ball and place on a baking paper lined cookie sheet.

Make sure they are placed well apart.

Press the balls down with the bottom of a glass.

Bake until golden, but still a bit soft, 14-16 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack.

After five days without water (it just came back today, thank God) one realizes how precious it is, not wasting a drop using as little as possible to make the buckets last………this is what Nancy Bauch from white forest pottery, is exploring when she makes 108 bowls:a Water Mala. The project has inspired me and I would love to go on a meditative journey of my own with clay and water (I do this everyday, but when you introduce all the pressures of running a business into the equation I tend to loose the meditative journey part) so now I’ve put it in print I must make it happen………watch this space

This gorgeous, talented, young, stylish, edgy,(you get the message)  kilkenny girl has a very exciting year ahead of her (in my opinion). Blanaid Hennessy is her name and she has a couple of blogs on the go right now, if your looking for the latest look both fashion and interiors or inspirational quotes then click here. If celeb gossip, and a bit of a laugh is what your after then click here. Keep up the good work Blanaid………….

Well on the eve of Christmas eve, with one more day to go in the shop I would like to thank our customers for their support in the past year and we look forward to seeing you all in the coming year. It has been a very positive year for us, with good things happening and lots of great ideas to get stuck into in the new year. The shop will reopen next week  from Tues to Thurs in the afternoons. Call me on 087 6833639 if you are making a special trip………..Happy Christmas

This weekend we had seasonal weather for a change, with the first fall of snow and sooo cold. It was nice to be able to snuggle up in our warm little house, well as you can see our four legged friend was going nowhere. Im looking forward to winding up work on Christmas eve………

Micheal Parsons wrote a great article yesterday in the Irish Times on MADE in kilkenny featuring yours truly and I was delighted with the photo they included………..

Andys Solo Christmas show opened last night at the Waterfront Gallery in Westport. Its looks great, bright and joyful for the season thats in it. There was a great reaction from everyone there with lots of sales. Prices range from €40 to €400 so its perfect Christmas present territory. If your not going to be down Westport way then call by our shop where he has lots of new work available…….

We had a great night on Thursday with the launch of the MADE pop up shop. Everyone came out to support us and some of us girls got dressed up(any excuse) wearing some beautiful millinery creations by Rebekah Patterson. We had our ‘annual ladies festive dinner’ afterwords. Anne from the Butterslip (just 3 doors down from the MADE pop up) also had her customer night on Thursday complete with pink champers, and mini cup cakes  for everyone………this made for a great festive pre dinner warm up.

I love a challenge and one of the biggest to date is the transformation of an empty two storey shop unit in Kilkenny city into a beautiful styled shop full of gorgeous craft which is all designed and hand MADE in Co.Kilkenny. I think in this day and age this is pretty amazing. There are not many places anywhere, where you could get this quality of work all MADE in such a small geographical area. There was lots of hands on deck and within three evenings we got this great shop together with a beautiful exhibition upstairs. The people of Kilkenny and the surrounding areas have no excuse this Christmas…………they can support their local community of crafts people, give amazing gifts that will bring pleasure for a lifetime and it is all on their doorstep under one roof. Click here for more info.

I love this gift wrap paper, its double sided and not specifically Christmasey , just beautiful. I started tonight, gift  wrapping boxes(to create the look) for the new Pop up Shop that MADE in kilkenny are opening in Kilkenny this Saturday. We start to make the shop beautiful and fill it with gorgeous hand crafted goodies on Wednesday so 3 days to transform the space……….I love a challenge. Rolls of gift wrap are available from Rosemarie Durr pottery €6 each

 Our pottery comes in beautiful gift boxes, perfect for wedding gifts, corporate gifts, Christmas gifts or just something beautiful for someone special…………check out our new section for more gift ideas

As part of the Savour Kilkenny festival Andy took part in a beautiful exhibition at the Kilkenny Design Center. There was a food theme going on, lovely colourful work. The show is now over, but the work which wasn’t sold is now available from the main shop. Andy is busy getting ready for a solo show which opens in December at the Waterfront Gallery, in Wesport, Co.Mayo. I’ll keep you posted……….

Ok…. two weeks back into work after our break I’m still getting inspiration from the west cork landscape. I am trying to keep my head clear going into the crazy season but it’s not easy, the next three weeks are top production weeks in the workshop. It is so hard to keep focused as all our new stock for Christmas arrives in the shop. I would like nothing more than immerse myself in creating beautiful displays but alas I will not give in just yet……….I will give you a glimpse of all the exciting new stuff any day now, promise!

A week spent in west Cork has been the perfect stock up of inspiration to get me through the winter months ahead……….

Autumn is my favorite season, the food, the colours, the crisp days and long nights. I’ve had great fun carving pumpkins, collecting leaves and making the shop look seasonal………

There is a new section in the recent issue of Ceramics Ireland Magazine, called ‘meet the makers’ it features yours truly, and some other young makers from around Ireland including, Sinead Lough, Adam Frew, Mandy Parslow and Stephen Farnan. The Magazine is available from my shop and other outlets nationwide.

Check out some new bits and pieces in the shop, here……..

 Jack Dohertys beautiful pottery is still on show in the National Craft Gallery. Its a real treat to see rows and rows of beautiful pots………..

Check out the new MADE in Kilkenny website………..the best of craft in Kilkenny and some of the best in Ireland

Just had a fab time at ‘Electric Picnic’ as usual it is a very cool place to hang out for the weekend or in my case a day(a bit of a light weight I’m afraid, just can’t keep up that pace for more than one day) I was fortunate enough to be there as a guest of the Bridgestone Guide……..John and Sally McKennagh showed me a super time. I was delighted to be chosen to  make the  ‘Bridgestone Electric Picnic Awards 2009′ for the second year running. It is such a big deal for me as the standard of food stands at this festival is certainly a one off in this country……..superb. The winners were among the best producers in the country and to think that this is the standard available at a music festival. I have to confess that I have been to Electric Picnic every year from the start and its the food that excites me as much as the music………..here are some snap shots to give you a feel for what went on.

Knockdrinna Farmhouse Cheese receiving their award from John McKennah and myself

A very happy group from the slow food movement recieving their award….

These girls won an award last year as well, they deserve it for their Mad Hatters stall it was magical as you can see below (they were by far the best dressed as well)

The beautiful and talented Lisa Hannigan….

The launch of ‘Made in Kilkenny’ was a huge success, lots of people turned out and there was a great atmosphere around Butler House and the Castle Yard. The exhibition itself looked great and the theme ‘Kilkenny 400′ really came trough (it was not easy to get craft from 26 different makers and have it sit together, and look good in one room, well done Ray). Thanks to the group for the beautiful flowers and wine they presented me with it was much appreciated…….

I made (with the help of some fairys) 400 ceramic flowers and placed them in the garden of Butler House….

Above are some photos from the exhibition to show the diversity of the work. We will be live with the ‘MADE in kilkenny’ website very soon, watch this space………

Six artists from the Estate Yard have a joint exhibition in 4 William Street, Kilkenny for Arts festival. All the artists share the some working environment at the Estate Yard, whilst creating their own varied personal artworks. It was a buzzing launch, great reaction to the work and lots of red stickers………….

Work by Lucy McKenna and some potential buyers……

Rachel Burke Painting and Ruairi Carroll sculpture

Ross Stewart Painting

Tomm Moore, director of ‘The Seceret of Kells’ pointing to the new addition to his houshold, a beautiful ceramic fish by Andrew Ludick.

Maeve Coulter beside one of her beautiful prints. Two of Maeves textile peices.

Rachel Burke paintings

Its been a long time coming but at last we are launching ‘MADE in Kilkenny’ a group of 26 professional designer makers based in Kilkenny city and county. We launch with an exhibition in Butler House, Kilkenny at 1pm on Sat 8th, all are welcome. The exhibition is part of Kilkenny Arts Festival and is inspired by ‘Kilkenny 400′. We will be launching the Craft trail which is part of trail Kilkenny. The craft trail brochure is fresh off the printing press today and the website will be launched a couple of weeks from now….

We had another successful open day here on Monday. The rain didn’t come until late in the afternoon and all of the kids had a go at making a pot, creating a picture out of felt and getting their face painted………as well as all the craft taking place outside in the Yard there were also some beautiful sculptures placed around both outside and in the exhibition space, they are there for the month of August, its worth a trip.

A wet and windy, overgrown garden is what I’m faced with. This year I promised myself more time at least one day a week when I try to keep house and garden in shape………..didn’t happen. The rain is a constant but even if the sun was shining I haven’t had any time at home in ages so I just went out this morning and cut lots of flowers. Its a great way to make use of my vast collection of jugs (I’ve always been more fond of jugs than vases for putting flowers into). If you cant get to the garden bring the garden to you.

I’m very fortunate to be able to spend my holidays in this beautiful home in the States. Its a little like a wildlife reserve, the woods are full of all sort of exotic birds and animals (exotic to me anyway) and the house is very simple shaker style.  I get back to work relaxed and rested, that’s all I want from a holiday. I know it won’t be too long before we make the trip again………….

Check out the latest issue of ‘House and Home’, these photos were styled by Eleanor Harpur here in the Estate Yard and down the woods. I love how they turned out. The chair below will look familiar, I have featured it many times in this blog (it is very photogenic). Isn’t funny how places you see everyday look so much better when photographed beautifully and put into a glossy magazine………

I am still in the land of the living……..it has been forever since I updated my blog. A combination of ‘peak production’ time of year and a trip overseas, has consumed most of my days and nights. The summer months are always flat out for us, I have to make a lot of  pots for our own shop, other shops and special orders, other things tend to suffer ie.computer work.

Some bright summer displays and new stock in Rosemarie Durr Pottery this month, call in and see………..

The Wisteria is in bloom ( a large plant bought in a sale and it was supposed to be blue, when it bloomed it turned out to be white much to my disappointment, but with time I have grown to love the scent and it is thriving up against our stone wall) and I bought these gorges purple daisy’s last week, they just lift the front of the shop. The clymatis flowers didn’t last very long this year, who’d blame them, still I love the way the stems knot around each other so they are interesting all year round. I’m looking forward to the sweetpea and honeysuckle each side of the door, coming into bloom, then we will be the best smelling shop in Kilkenny ……..not to mention the prettiest.

What I want most from my garden is to have some sort of flowers or pretty foliage all year round, so I can keep a vase of fresh flowers in the shop and at home without breaking the bank. This is going to take a bit of time to get right……….at the moment things are a bit behind in the garden, with the weather so cold everything is slow to come out, the flowers above are stocks I bought. They not only look pretty in the shop but they smell beautiful. You can’t underestimate the joy a beautiful vase of flowers, brings to your day.

How many people would love to give up the rat race and live an idyllic life in the woods. Well two friends of ours managed just this. They built a beautiful house that’s warm and full of light, (two very important qualities in our climate) in the middle of the most perfect piece of woodland………the gardens look like nature planned them (with a lot of help from Trish). Nothing looks out of place or at odds with the woods, it all fits in just perfect.

Good food, chat and a nice glass of wine shared with friends can clear all the rainy day blues you might have. Our friends have a great conservatory where the rain dosen’t seem to matter and to hang out there on Sunday evening was just what I need after a week of thunder and hail storms………..when is the summer coming?

 I’m writing an article at the moment for Ceramics Ireland’s next magazine about my work and why I choose to make tableware, and it has encouraged me to reread some of my old pottery books. In doing so I came across this paragraph written by a great old lady in her 90’s. I think it sums up a potters life…….

‘To make a pot, we must have skills-truly basic skills-firstly making the clay usable by pugging, wedging, kneading, and balling, then throwing the pot on the wheel, followed by turning the perfect foot rim, pulling or extruding a strong handle and, last of all the most difficult, decorating the vessel in an appropriate way. Allied to these formal skills is the paramount understanding of what we use and what we use it for, how relevant this is to our customers and, subsequently, if we can persuade(educate) them that this is what they themselves need as well as buying it as a gift. Apart from all these reasonable simple tasks, the potter fulfills what I believe to be a fundamental role in the community, in being, perhaps, the only relic of a magical time past-the simple craftsman in a village deprived of blacksmiths, cobblers, saddlers and carpenters. I do not mean the good old days in a romantic sense, but a time where people were in touch with where things came from. As working potters, we are the link to the earth. We are the monstrous relics of a marvellous time when designs and ideas flew from men, as opposed to machines. A time when craft was a noble word.’

From Brickfields by Mary Wondrausch

This beautiful exhibition opened on Saturday in the National Craft Gallery, Kilkenny. I took photos of a small selection of work, but I think it is worth a trip if at all passable make your way to Kilkenny to see it for yourself. Andrew Ludick (my better half and voice of reason) has some beautiful pieces in the exhibition. Ann Mulrooney (curator of the National Craft Gallery) done a great job of displaying all the different craft in such a sensitive way….

Andy looking very serious.

Andys new work is full of sunshine, bright colours and organic patterns. Every home should have one….

I hope you get a feel from these photos of how cool this garden is. The old wooden caravans above were bought by Klaus a few years ago, he painted them, and fitted them out as a sauna……….what a perfect place for a sauna in rural, wet Ireland. The Gazebo is a living willow structure, growing with the rest of the garden,  a great idea for a new flat garden, instant height and looks beautiful.