Newgrange inspiration for awardwinning coffee table
A bleached, sandblasted and whitened ash coffee table, Core II, won the Irish Design 2015 Award for John Lee for his design excellence and innovation, at the RDS National Craft Awards today. The Maynooth man’s work was inspired by the entrance stones at Newgrange and the natural effects of weathering and erosion on our surrounding environment.
John is one of Ireland’s foremost furniture makers with pieces exhibited in galleries and museums in Ireland and beyond. He was commissioned to make the new Irish Presidential Inauguration Chair for Áras an Uachtaráin.
John Jenkins, the furniture judge for the RDS National Craft Awards said: “Core II thoroughly deserved to win the Irish Design 2015 Award as it is stunning piece of furniture. Not only it is beautifully considered, but its intricate design invites you to rub your hands along it. As a designer I can appreciate the thought and consideration that went into it, from planning through to execution. What I especially liked was the range of skills employed, both traditional and contemporary, that would have it made incredibly challenging to make.”
Additional sponsorship from the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland and Irish Design 2015 brought the total competition prize fund to almost €40,000 this year. The RDS National Craft Awards is one of Ireland’s most important annual showcase and competition opportunities for craft makers living and working on the island.
Showcasing and rewarding excellence in Irish craft since 1968, from this year the RDS National Craft Awards is now a two strand competition with an independent panel of craft experts assessing the work of emerging and established makers separately. This allows the Awards to celebrate the best in Irish craft, as well as provide a platform the next generation of makers.
With categories ranging from woodturning and jewellery to ceramics, glass and textiles, the RDS National Craft Awards is an important celebration of indigenous design and endeavour, and follows an RDS tradition of promoting and supporting the development of Irish craft which dates back to the nineteenth century.
Basket maker Joe Hogan won the RDS Established Maker Award of Excellence this year for Ebb & Flow, described by judges as ‘unique, faultless and innovative.’ Joe’s pioneering work has helped transform the craft of basket-making into a more artful form, while still retaining the functional aspects of this traditional craft. As well as sculptural works Joe also makes traditional baskets and his baskets are known for their strength and durability. Mary Butcher who judged the basketry category said: “This work stems from the unique Irish traditional techniques, yet it is a supreme example of contemporary basketry. Nobody has done this style in Britain or Ireland until Joe – it’s a real step outside his own original practice and one that has already been influential. What also makes Joe different is the incredibly careful selection of each willow to obtain beautiful elegant curves, which takes years of accumulated skill.”
A graduate from the Jewellery and Goldsmithing Skills and Design Course run by the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland in Kilkenny won the inaugural Emerging Maker RDS Award of Excellence. Paula O’Callaghan’s salt & pepper shaker set is made from silver and 22ct gold plating. It was inspired by industrial architecture and was described by the judge as “beautifully produced”.
Judging the Silversmithing category, Roger Millar a silversmith based in Scotland said: “the work in the emerging makers strand, especially from Kilkenny, was of an extremely high standard. It was very difficult to choose between three or four of the entrants. Having seen the standard of work that was shown I would now love to visit the training course in Kilkenny”.
The top prize winners in both the emerging and established craft strands received €5,000 as well as the California gold medal, with Irish Design 2015 sponsoring a special once-off award of €5,000 for design excellence and innovation. Thirteen category prize winners in both emerging and established maker strands received €500 sponsored by the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland as well as an RDS medal and certificate.
The William Smith O’Brien Perpetual Challenge Cup was awarded to Nicola Henley for her large-scale, painterly textile piece which depicts soaring gulls and a chalk cliff face in Rovigno, Croatia. Nicola’s textile pieces are made by a combination of dying, painting, and screen-printing cotton calico and texturing the surface with various materials stitched into the cloth. This particular piece took her six weeks to complete.
Supporting emerging talent is at the core of what the RDS Arts Programme is all about. The IACI RDS Muriel Gahan Award of €2,000 is awarded to an emerging craftsperson to assist with their career or business development. This year the prize went to Ryan Connolly for his walnut side table which the furniture judge described as “a stunning piece of work, embracing new technology in furniture, beautifully shaped and curved”. The prize money will help him to purchase some much needed equipment for his Galway studio.
The 2015 RDS Graduate Award of €2,000 was awarded to Andrew Whitelaw from Killaloe, Co Clare who recently graduated from CIT Crawford College of Art. His ceramic and glass piece reflects the maker’s initial views of China’s rich ceramic culture. Andrew’s piece hides the porcelain vessels within the confines of the cast glass structure. The new National Craft & Design Fair Award consists of a free stand for an emerging maker at the five day retail craft fair which the organisers hold in the RDS every December. This prize was awarded to Chloe Dowds who hand throws porcelain from her studio in Co. Wicklow. In 2014 she won the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland’s Future Makers Judges Spotlight Award.
Winning and selected entries will be shown at the RDS National Craft Awards Exhibition in the RDS Concert Hall from 28th to 31st July (free entry) and also during the Discover Ireland Dublin Horse Show, RDS August 5th – 9th (entry fee applies). Prize winners will be shown at the National Crafts and Design Fair, RDS, December 2015.