Discovered hidden away in the basement of an old Dublin shop was this fine piece of furniture. A steal at just €25! we carted it back to HQ and brought it lovingly back to life with lots of scrubbing and polishing, a process comparible with kissing dead people.

The result of our hard work was unveiled on Monday and the cabinet now takes pride of place in the centre of the shop. Even more exciting however is the range of new jewellery it houses, including work by Eoin M. Lyons, Cianan Doyle, Filip Vanas and of course ourselves. Due any day now is work by Yvonne Beale and MFK jewellery. 

Expect lots of exciting new products to Irish Design shop over the coming weeks as we gear up for Culture night which takes place on the 24th of September. Further information on events taking place across the city can be obtained from http://www.culturenight.ie We will be updating you on our own plans closer to the date, but do drop by as we will be open till 11pm along with our studios.

Hurray! Something new and lovely! Earlier this week, textile deisgner Olga Tiernan dropped in a selection of her screen printed cushions and tote bags. The bags are made from organic cotton and retail at €10. The cushions, which are printed on both sides retail at €55. These items will be available to purchase from the site in the coming week, for the moment pop into the shop to purchase Olga's work. Also new this week is the bright orange and white sideboard from furniture designer Jenny Walsh's 'creature comforts' collection. Jenny turns a traditional design on its head mixing angles, colour and wit to produce a truely original piece of furniture. (Available direct from our Bow Lane East premises)

Now with all the practical nformation out of the way, we can give a big welcome back to Miss Caffrey! Perhaps her positive influence will encourage a bit of work being done around the place, but on the other hand, the sun is shining and therefore serious work can wait.

This month it's the turn of Laura to head off and abandon poor Clare. Loneliness, hunger and a general feeling of loss has been my only companion since being abandoned last week.

No news, nothing new to report in the shop, just........nothing!

LAURA COME HOME, AND BRING BACK SOME NEWS!!!!!!!!

Before Clare went jetting off to Vietnam, and abandoning me for three weeks, we spent some time searching for new products for the shop, and found three amazing new makers.

Pictured here are the exquisite ceramics of Derek Wilson, his hand crafted porcelain tableware is made in Belfast. Also from that neck of the woods are some lovely Irish-inspired products from "Placed", everything from greeting cards to framed screenprints. We are also introducing some great new jewellery from NCAD graduate Jenny Lawlor.

Heather Finn has once again brightened our day (and our shop), with some wonderfully vibrant summer scarves.

As always all of the products can be found here on the website, and a few extras in the shop on Bow Lane East.

Following the success of our adult evening classes, we have decided to run 2 day jewellery workshops for teenagers over the Summer. Each class is limited to 6 students and will be taught by ourselves (Clare and Laura). We will be offering students the chance to work with a variety of materials including metals, plastics and wood to create their own individual piece of jewellery by the end of the second day. Students are also welcome to bring in found objects they wish to incorporate into their designs.

If anyone has any further queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

Also, friends of Irish Design Shop are holding wonderful Textile workshops over the next couple of months!

Well not exactly. We just thought that sounded like a pretty exciting heading for an update having exhausted such titles as; 'new stock!' etc. Which brings us nicely onto the topic of....... new stock at Irish design shop!  New this month, we have a very clever flat packed lamp by emerging Irish company Klickity, cards from printmaker Gail Kelly & jewellery from Angela Cuthill.

In addition to exciting products listed above, we have candles from Kilkenny company Moth to a flame. Maybe we are getting ahead of ourselves, but we reckon the colourful hanging candles and globes are perfect for all manner of outdoor entertaining!

so leave your shillelagh at the door and come in for a browse!

It may be February, the beginning of Spring, but the weather is thinking otherwise. Here at Irish Design shop, we can barley feel our toes yet we are still excited about a change in season and receiving new stock.

Last week, we received a delivery of printed silk scarves by galway based maker Lisa Ryder. Expected this week, handmade candles by Kilkenny company 'Moth to a flame' and cards from Down based printmaker Gail Kelly. Instore we also have one off black and white drawings by dublin illustrator and all round nice guy Dave Comiskey.

Now that we have double the space we had before Christmas, we finally have the opportunity to sell more furniture! Call into the shop to see the elegantly formed 'pinch' and 'splay' floor lamps by Dublin based Kooyong design and beautiful yet robust one off furniture pieces by Wicklow maker James Carroll.

That's all for now, wrap up warm boys and girls!

We may have been a little bit over optomistic, thinking that it would only take us a week to get all of this renovation work done!!

3 weeks later, we are almost there, and will definately be back open this Saturday, 30th January. So call on in to see the much bigger, brighter space!

We will be filling it full of lots of new and exciting products over the next few weeks.

we can't help ourselves! Following a year of renovation work we are taking up tools yet again to rejig our little shop on bow lane east. To create a larger retail space, we will close the shop from the 11th of January and reopen on the 19th. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

In addition to attaining a larger retail space, we will also have a bigger and better metal workshop soon to be housed on the other side of the building. This will accomodate larger jewellery classes which resume in February. Classes will run for 8 weeks beginning the 2nd of February. Anyone interested should contact us on 4752222.

OPENING HOURS: 10 - 8 EVERYDAY (sometimes later)

CLOSING CHRISTMAS EVE AROUND 2

We are here!!

We would like to invite all you good boys and girls to an opening on Thursday the 17th of December. Our resident artists will be exhibiting a selection of their work in our little gallery space next door.  All pieces will be reasonably priced, proving ideal for anyone seeking original Christmas gifts.

As the big day approaches, Irish design shop is getting more festive by the minute. Drop by the shop to check out our variety of wonderful gift ideas! New arrivals include; printed jersey scarves by Paget Scott-McCarthy, wooden stools and currach wallpaper by Superfolk, jewellery by Clare & Laura and notebooks from Angry. To make things easier, we recently installed our credit card machine, accepting all credit and laser cards.

Commencing Saturday the 19th of December, we will be screening a selection of festive movies, anything from White Christmas to Scrooged. Our workshop will be transformed into a mini cinema, so feel free to drop by, just bring your own popcorn! A timetable of whats on and when will be posted in the next update. We can take requests, so drop us an email with any suggestions (within reason!, ‘big titty Christmas’ and other such films will not be featured)

Finally, make sure to check out the lovely exhibition in The Matchabar Tea Emporium based in the Powerscourt Centre on South William Street. Curated by Paget Scott-McCarthy, the show will feature a diverse range of work by artists/ designers and will run from the 9th of December until January.

Although the weather has been anything but festive and our roof continues to leak, we are feeling all warm and fuzzy as Christmas approaches.

To kick off the season in style, Irish design shop are hosting a one day event on the 3rd of December when all stock will be discounted by 20%! With the added temptation of Christmas nibbles and drinks, there is no excuse to miss this one off event.

To ensure our little shop is full to the brim with all manner of lovely stuff, new stock has been arriving from Lisnavagh, Farrell & Chase, Heather Finn and Angela Cuthill. We are also delighted to welcome new designers to the flock including; 'wedge' furniture design, who produce super snazzy coffee tables & 'electronic sheep' who produce equally snazzy knitwear. We are also expecting handmade stools from superfolk any day now.

Finally, Irish Design Shop are delighted to be involved in the craft council's 'craft for Christmas' campaign which encourages shoppers to buy Irish handmade craft this Christmas, and as you all know, here at Irish design shop, we only stock quality products which have been produced in Ireland. 

Opening hours between now and December 24th, are from 10 till 6, seven days a week. Most week day nights we will be open later, making jewellery like the clappers! so drop by the ye olde stable down the lane anytime for some festive cheer

We have officially finished all renovation work! Every available surface has been painted white, all signage has been erected, that is it! We are done with decorating and building!
The highlight had to be reaching the top of the building with our bargain basement rollers and paint brushes. We bit the bullet & rented a scaffolding tower for the day which was surprisingly easy to assemble!

Culture night on the 25th of September marked the end of a very long renovation/building period. Events got underway with impromptu jewellery workshops by ourselves & a small exhibition by the resident artists and designers. We now have 8 people working from the studios, they include: Dave Comiskey (illustration), Beatrice O’Connell (painter), Fiona & Lucy ( mixed media artists), Garret Power ( Painter/framer), Tia McLoughlan (painter), Eoin & Cianan (metalworkers) and Lieu Kabyrova
(painter/maker).
Wine and cheese were on hand to satisfy weary members of the public as they made their way around some of the 200 locations open for culture night. So we would like to thank all those who made the effort to visit our little enterprise!
 
Having received lots of new work over the last month, our little shop is looking very pretty and inviting. New to Irish design shop are homewares and jewellery by Rachel mc Knight, knitwear/woven products from Shuttleknit and handmade frames from Gar Power., not to mention new jewellery from ourselves! Over the coming weeks we will be getting in work from Superfolk & new stuff from our other designers.

Officially, we are open from 10-6, Monday- Saturday (& occasionally later) and with our fantastic new signage, you cant miss us, so come in for a browse and a closer look at the variety of stock we have for sale.

With Culture night behind us, our focus is now on Design week which takes place between the 2nd and 9th of November. We are planning a week long of events which we will release sooner rather than later.
No rest for Irish design shop!

here at Irish design shop, we look forward to Culture Night each year with great anticipation! and this year its bigger than ever with over 120 cultural organisations in Dublin opening their doors for a whole host of free activities until late. Irish design shop and studios will be open until midnight for fun and frolics! early visitors can enjoy jewellery making demonstrations by ourselves, and throughout the evening the resident artists and designers wil have their work on display. the studios will be open to the public and the artists will be milling around. Culture night marks the first event held in our newly renovated building so we hope many of you will join us for a glass of wine to celebrate!

we still need to finish our wonderful painting job on the building and erect our new signage, but we are, as ever hopeful the job will be complete on time.

Finally we have some lovely new work in the shop including woven and knitted products from Shuttleknit as well as jewellery and accessories from Angela Cuthill. Later in the week we will be receiving more jewellery and homewares from Rachel Mc Knight, so our little shop will be stocked to the rafters for the big night on friday!

Well, it's been a long time coming, but i have finally made some new jewellery! my range which will be released in stages will be exclusively available through Irish design shop. the first five items are now available through the store. the focus is on geometric shape and pattern incorporating irish beech (Laura's donation) and silver which was put through a rolling mill with a copper plate etched with my pattern.

Over the coming weeks i hope to have completed some enamelled and cast pieces which will consist of bangles, pendants and more complicated necklaces! (i just cant help myself) having completed an enamelling course in Kilkenny over the summer, i am all set to start experimenting with my new kiln. The plan is also to set up a semi haphazard etching station in the studio which will consist of a car battery and a fish tank of nitric acid. i swear, it does work!

In other news, we are delighted to be selling Dave Comiskey's lovely book "Hand-drawn & Quartered" which he produced a couple of years back. With only 10 copies left, these are sure to become  collectors items!

New to Irish design shop this month are lovely printed cushions from dark dog studio in Cork. They are available to purchase online or from our shop on Bow Lane east. Dark dog also produce laptop bags which we are expecting this week.
Some of you will have noticed we have updated our features section to include slide shows from our various visits around the country. Our latest feature shows Liz Nilsson in her Dublin studio. We have plenty of other features in the pipeline which will be updated regularly.
Finally, we have begun planning for ‘Culture Night’ which takes place on the 25th of September. We will be open till midnight with lots of fun things happening! When we have finalised our plan for the evening we will post another update.

Irish design shop has come over all romantic this week! We have just launched a new jewellery class ‘make your own wedding rings’. All details are outlined on the above flier. We are limiting the numbers to one couple per weekend. We will lay on lunch both days, take photos of the couples progress and celebrate the completion of their wedding rings over a glass of champagne!
For more details, give us a call on 01 4752222, or just drop us an email.

For anyone thinking of tying the knot we recommend you check out http://www.wearethemastersons.com which is a fantastic new site set up by friends of Irish design shop. They specialise in wedding photography but also do portraits and other commissions. Their casual approach to wedding photography is refreshing in a world of uncomfortable poses and staged happy couple moments.

To see us talking about this on Ireland AM on TV3 click here!

It seems renovation work is catching on Bow lane east. our neighbour, while in the process of clearing out his premises offered us a few planks of wood. we immediately saw the potential to build a half wall within the shop with this discarded wood! with such a construction, nice heavy planks are preferable as the framework needs to be sturdy enough for the wall to be supported. what we thought would be a simple project ended up like a frustrating jigsaw puzzle, involving cutting bits of wood and attaching it to what we could find to form the desired height of the walls. the corners were the most confusing, but as always we persevered!we had visions of it becoming a version of the dodgy door we hung a couple of months back where we ended up sawing the bottom off a door to fit an awkard part of the building. that didn't quite go to plan and has since been taken down, fingers crossed it will fit in the mini skip!

anyway, back to the wall. it didnt look half bad once we screwed the plaster board into place, plastered and painted the haphazard construction!

Last Thursday morning the builders arrived to install our fancy new studio entrance and first floor window!

the weather can now throw anything our way and we will remain leak and damp free!

(this is our theory anyway, and our fingers remain crossed)

Renovations have dragged into week four, but the end is in sight! we will be putting up more pictures in the coming days,

including our ladder dance and how to construct a wall out of a pile of old rubbish.

We are now officially occupying the whole building as last week Robinsons bed shop moved out the last of their belongings.

Within an hour, we were pulling up the carpet and laying the framework for our three ground floor studios.

We successfully constructed all the walls within the first day, leaving the remainder of the week to hang doors, plaster and

paint every available space white, stopping occasionally for a quick tea break!

The windows are promised to arrive this Thursday. Come back next week to see if the builders arrive on time!

Last Monday we started renovations on the other half of the building, which previously housed Robinsons Bed Shop.

Building partitions for studios and generally redecorating the first floor,  making the place look pretty has taken up

all of our time this past week.

The photos here show our progress from laying floor tiles to constructing walls.

This coming week we will begin work on the ground floor in order to have it ready for new artists and designers to

move in on the 1st of August.

The fruits of our labour will be on view here in the updates section next week!

We have huge reductions on our stock of beautiful Liz Nilsson screen-printed linen homewares.

Liz Nilsson is a Swedish born designer-maker. She has practiced in the field of art and design for the last twenty years in Sweden, the UK and Ireland. She does always use textile or flexible materials in her work. Her practice involves a curiosity for different textile based techniques, with screen-printing being the one that is constantly visible in her work.

Working from her Dublin studio Liz is involved in a wide variety of project’s ranging from conceptual installations to design schemes. She divides her time between making designs for interior textiles, artistic commissions and her own concept-based work.

Irish Design Shop are now stocking furniture in store from Vaugh Shannon and, recent graduate of NCAD, Patricia Rita Hegarty.

Trevor Vaugh and Nic Shannon, are two dublin based industrial designers. Clarity, functionality and wit are the core guiding principles behind every vaughshannon product.

We have the Happy Lamp and the Madra in our shop, but the boys have several new designs that were recently showcased at the Milan furniture trade fair, The SalonSatellite.

They can also be seen on their own website, check out their new blog for lots of interesting design news.

"Refabricated" is the brainchild of textile designer Patricia Rita Hegarty. She has taken unwanted chairs and given them a  new life, by re-upholstering them with her own intricately embroidered fabrics. We have three of these unique chairs on show also.

We are selling off all of our stock of ANGRY products, including the Argyle Bunny Sweaters as modelled by the Irish Design Shop team!

Get yours before they're gone!!

We have a range of jewellery making classes on offer over the summer months.

Suitable for begginners, classes will be conducted from our workshop on Bow Lane East, Dublin 2.

For more information contact either of us on .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Check the store section for new work from Paget Scott-Mc Carthy, including printed jersey scarves and delft.

Arriving next week we will also have a new range of greeting cards from Farrell & Chase.

We may be in the height of recession, but Irish Design Shop are expanding anyway!

Over the summer, we will be renovating the building beside us on Bow Lane East, which currently houses Robinsons Bed Shop.

Once we sign on the dotted line, you will be able to follow our progress  here in the Updates section.

We will be developing the space into individual studios, so if anyones interested, give us a shout to have a look around!

Finally, the NCAD degree show launched last friday June 5th, so there are only a few days left to have a chance to see 

the great work by the graduating artists/designers. Running until Sunday June 14th.

We are hosting our first Meet Your Maker event on the weekend of the 9th &10th of May.

Opening times are from 11-6 on both days.

This is going to be a showcase of irish makers selling directly from individual stalls outside irish design shop HQ.There will be a variety of products ranging from ceramics to t-shirts to jewellery and textiles. The designers themselves will be on hand to give more of an insight into their work.

Our pop up café will be located upstairs, where you can relax and enjoy a cup of tea and some tasty treats!

This is also an opportunity to view our exciting new stock not yet listed on the website.

Hope to see you there!
Clare & Laura

Power dressing has taken hold of Irish Design Shop!

High powered business meetings have been held with our existing and new designers to secure deals on new products.

Over the coming weeks expect to see new work from Heather Finn, Sinead Lough and Laura de Burca, and from new designers Paget Scott-Mc Carthy and Farrell & Chase.

If the phone ever stops ringing Clare and Laura might get a chance to make some new jewellery too!

Since the launch of our premises on March 13^th, we have been continuing our work on the building and researching new designers and features for the website.

A new feature has been added, a video of ceramicist Ulrika Holmquist casting one of her sweet bowls (which can be bought through the store). Ulrika is just one of the new designers we will be introducing over the coming months. We will also have new stock arriving from our current designers.

Now that we have settled into our new and improved workshop, we have finally started work on our new collections which will be available online soon. The new space has also been a great venue for the jewellery evening classes we run twice a week. In the summer we will be running short jewellery courses, details of which will follow.

We are expecting new stock which will be sold exclusively from our showroom on Bow Lane East, including work from furniture designers Vaugh/Shannon.

We are now open from Monday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm. So, come visit!

First of all a big thanks to everyone who has dropped into the Pop-Up Store in the Powerscourt centre. It has been fun so far and an opportunity to work with more and more designers. We have a load of new products that you should drop in and check out! We've also brought a workbench from our studio so that we're always busy.

First off we have soft plushie toys by animator Louise Bagnall. Each character is screen printed on various touchy-feely fabrics. Louise is giving a workshop on how to make your own plush toys this Saturday, December 20th at Paper Lantern studios.

Also welcome is furniture maker Garvan de Bruir. We will be stocking his beautiful sheepskin-lined leather bags for the duration of our pop-up shop. We are also stocking a selection of gorgeous cards by printer Gail Kelly. Each design represents an Irish tree, including, beech, ash and holly.

Those of you who have already visited us in our temporary location will have seen the fantastic furniture we are stocking from designers Vaugh|Shannon. This industrial design duo create original, functional and simple products sourcing all components from within Ireland, resulting in items of exceptional quality and personality.

We also have several pieces from Dublin based ceramicist Ulrika Holmquist. Her bold and colourful pieces are cast in her studio off Leinster Road in Rathmines. Graphic design studio Angry have supplied us with some great t-shirts, notebooks and mittens!

Last but not least, we have some beautiful cushions from fashion designer Jane Geraghty, made from a selection amazing vintage fabrics.

Powerscourt’s annual customer evening is on this Thursday and in collaboration with that we will have some festive treats and special reduced prices on some items in our Pop-Up Shop! From 6pm to 9pm! We’re on the ground floor. The Powerscourt Townhouse Centre is on South William Street, Dublin 2.

We are opening a ‘Pop-Up Shop’ from December 3rd to 24th in the Powerscourt Centre on South William Street in Dublin. We will have all the stock from the site plus a few bigger pieces and work from other designers. Our unit is on the ground floor. Come on in and say hello!

It takes two working days for us to process your order, so please allow for this if you are ordering.

Ireland: 19th December
Great Britain: 18th December
Rest of Europe: 18th December
USA: 8th December
Australia: 8th December
Rest of the world: 5th December

We’ve ironed out some of the kinks in our Terms of Use policy. It is much more complete and means that buyers from outside the EU don’t have to pay VAT (sales tax). That means an instant discount of 21.5% on all items!

Just a note to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who came in to see us at our launch exhibition. It was a great start and the feedback has been really encouraging. We’re talking to the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre about the possibility of taking another retail space before Christmas, which would be great. Sign up to the newsletter for a heads up on that!

We’re really here! And glad to be. It’s been a long trip but we’re only just beginning. Thanks to everyone who has helped us so far. The updates section will be our space to talk to you about new ideas and initatives. A place to point out some really interesting things we’ve seen elsewhere and also a place to vent when we need to!