MADE in kilkenny

Well I have had a bit of a break from the blog over the past few months as work and life took over and here we are at Christmas….

I must have assembled hundreds of these gift boxes over the past few weeks.

These little heart dishes are flying out the door.

Andrews brooch’s are so beautiful, a timeless gift…

I have collaborated with Moth to a Flame candles and these candle bowls are the result,  we have Lavender and Christmas scents. My little Christmas bells are very festive.

We have a great selection of other bits a pieces. I particularly love these Nordic snow patterned hot water bottles.

As well as the usual shops we supply, this Christmas we are involved in two pop up shops, The Christmas Boutique in Ranelagh, Dublin which is open until this Sunday and the MADE in Kilkenny pop up shop, Rose Inn st. Kilkenny which is open until Christmas Eve, so if you cant make it to our shop in Castlecomer you might be able to find something special in one of the pop up shops.

I want to share some of the Craft highlights form this years Kilkennys Arts Festival….

Andrew Ludick bowls in ‘A Makers Journey’

Mark Campden ‘A Makers Journey’

Gus Mabelson ‘A Makers Journey’

Andrew Ludick ‘Form a Line ‘ exhibition

Above are some of  the amazing paper pieces on show in the National Craft Gallery

and Lucy McKenna’s hauntingly beautiful ‘Darker Wood’ in the Castle Park.

‘From inspiration to creation’

here is a little insight into how I came up with the bowls that are in

A Makers Journey Exhibition

My journey began in the garden with a plant I love called ‘bells of Ireland’. I love the simple shape of the foliage. Next I did some sketches of the plant and played around with suggestions of form. Here is my story board…

Then I got stuck into the making proccess which took place in our polly tunnel at home ……….

because of this little guy I have very little time in the workshop right now….

and here are the finished pots in the exhibition. A series of porcelain bowls glazed in a transparent glaze.

So there you have it,  ’A makers Journey’ from ‘inspiration to creation’ now on show at Butler House, Kilkenny

This is MADE in kilkennys 3rd exhibition and it looks fantastic. If you are in Kilkenny for the Arts Festival make sure to pay Butler House a visit, we also have a pop up shop open for the week which has a great selection of Kilkenny craft.

The exhibition A Makers Journey demonstrates the craft persons individual creative process. From the inspiring object or image, through their personal process of design, it explores the different element taken into consideration to create a successful, well designed aesthetic piece of work.

The Exhibition opened last night and runs for the duration of the Kilkenny Arts Festival until Sun 14th.

The Castlecomer Discovery Park and Craft Yard is where to go this bank holiday Monday, as part of the Savour Kilkenny festival you can see some beautifully styled tables by one of Ireland’s leading interior stylists incorporating the best of local food and craft. Be inspired with imaginative ideas for a Harvest table, a Halloween children’s table and a Christmas table. Enjoy the fruits of Samhain with a seasonal display of harvest-time fruit and vegetables and get creative (and sustainable!) for Christmas with a display of seasonal gift ideas mixing local craft and artisan food. A selection of exciting dishes will also be created in the award-winning Jarrow Café using local seasonal ingredients.

In the Discovery Park all the family can celebrate Samhain (the end of Summer) which is the second biggest festival in the Western world. It marks the turning of the Celtic Year and we are celebrating it in full. Children can look forward to face painting, storytelling and a fancy dress competition, with some surprises in store throughout the day.  The theme for the storytelling will be the traditions of Halloween relating to food including customs such as the ancient thanksgiving to the gods for the harvest after all the crops had been stored, ’souling’ much like the modern day ‘trick-or-treating’, hollowing out turnips to make the ‘Jack-o-Lanterns’, barm brack, and much much more.For information call Castlecomer Discovery Park, The Estate Yard, Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny, Tel 056 4440707. All events are free.

MADE in kilkenny are getting into the Savour mood by having an exhibition of tabletop craft in the National Craft Gallery. The show will run for Saturday and Sunday. You will be able to get ideas on how to mix a collection of local craft to create an unique feel to your dining table, not to be missed. For more details check out www.madeinkilkenny.ie

Here are some photos from the recent ‘MADE in kilkenny’ exhibition in Butler House, which was part of the Kilkenny Arts Festival……

One year on from our launch, MADE in kilkenny are exhibiting again in Butler House as part of the Kilkenny Arts Festival.  Here are some of the pieces that Andy and I are putting in for the show……….

All the work in the show has being inspired from places in Kilkenny.  Andys are photographed here in the gardens of Rothe House the place of his inspiration.

The tea set I made is photographed in Castlecomer Discovery Park by the river, the place of my inspiration…

I wanted to mention the amazing pieces created by two members of ‘MADE in kilkenny’ which were worn on Sunday night at the Oscars…..Liselott and Nora from the Cartoon Saloon wore the pendants below, made by Rudolf Heltzel and a headpiece by Rebekah Patterson. I think they’re work is amazing and am sure they held their own on the red carpet….

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………..

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.

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

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………

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….