Designing Ireland

Project Partner:
Crafts Council of Ireland

Date: 8 November – 14 December 2005
Venue: 21 Lavitt’s Quay

Project Description:
‘Designing Ireland’ was the first exhibition of the work of the Kilkenny Design Workshops since they were shut down in 1988. Established in 1963 by the Irish Export Board, the Kilkenny Design Workshops aimed to encourage and inspire Irish manufacturers. They were created in direct response to the fact that, in the early 1960s, few industries in Ireland recognised the commercial importance of good design.

Although Kilkenny Design Workshops initially concentrated on craft-based industries, it wasn’t long before they moved into the areas of graphic and industrial design. They also sold craft products through their shops in Kilkenny, Dublin and later, London.

‘Rainbow’ rug, wool, hand tufted, Pat Scott, V’soske Joyce, 1979.

Kilkenny Design Workshop products dominated Ireland’s visual landscape for over 20 years. They designed everything from those familiar logos for the OPW and Telecom Eireann, to products like the original yellow Bruscar litter bins and beautifully designed craft pieces. The world’s first-ever State design agency literally ‘designed’ how Ireland was seen from the mid 1960s.

Wandering through this vast collection of original products was a beautiful and breath-taking history lesson. Curated and researched by Joanna Quinn, it was a wonderful celebration of Ireland’s visual heritage.

The exhibition moved on to the National Craft Gallery in Kilkenny in 2006.

Seating, foam and plywood construction and wool upholstery, John Jenkins, KDW, 1982. KDW logo, Louis le Brocquy, KDW, 1965.

O'Callaghan Properties