You may remember earlier in the week that I mentioned here that the Irish Design Works Exhibition 2018 is opening soon, and I wanted to share the details of some of the designers that will be showcasing their works at the exhibition. There are 11 designers and I shared the work of 6 of those designers here and today I will be sharing the work of the other 5 designers.
Tricia Harris
Tricia Harris Designs is a furniture design studio creating unique, contemporary, design-led furniture and products for private and corporate clients. Her collection is made up of a range of high-quality production pieces and bespoke commissions. She combines quality materials and considered manufacturing with a strong sense of design and style to create beautiful, long-lasting pieces.
Graduating from The Furniture College, Letterfrack, Tricia has always had a love of designing finely crafted furniture and has a strong commitment to excellence in making. Working with Irish and European manufacturers allows her to push the possibilities of her designs and provide high-quality products. Her furniture is always underpinned by function but she successfully integrates character and personality into her designs.
Michelle O’Donnell
Michelle O Donnell originally from Donegal set up “Glasshammer studios” in 1995 and is a Glass Artist who specializes in the production of bespoke Glass Art. She operates from a large purpose built glass studio and Gallery in Rhode in Co Offaly Ireland.
She provides a very extensive range of Art form large Architectural commissions for offices and private homes and gardens through to corporate awards. Her personal work is inspired by the textures and layers in the Irish landscape developing here art forms to create a sense of movement energy and freedom. Michelle has produced a very prestigious Client list in her 21 years. Her work is in the White House Art Collection USA, Queen Elizabeth personal Art Collection, and AIB Art collection and she continues to make here Glass creations for both home and abroad.
Mickey Dawson
Mickey Dawson has lived and worked as a herdsman on the Burren in north Clare for the past 25 years on the lands where Lon The Smith once forge steel into weaponry for the Tuatha De Dannan . A few years ago he started welding pieces of metal together and discovered a passion for creating shapes.
Shane Holland
Holland is a product designer/maker and sculptor. His studio was first established in Dublin 1 in 1991. He has worked on many multidisciplinary projects over the years from industrial, lighting, furniture awards, film and corporate and public sculptural projects in the 27 years of business as Shane Holland Design Workshops. His fascination is with mixing materials, counterbalancing high tech with low tech, finding new uses or ways to use materials or craft them. His work in has been well known in lighting and recently he has worked on many award-winning projects such as 3 Michelin* Eneko at 1 Aldywch in London, The Titanic Drawing offices in Belfast and the Marconi site in Connemara along with sculptural commissions for Boeing in Foynes, Diageo and Dublin Airport in Dublin and the Tidy Towns in Skerries .
His limited edition signed furniture pieces such as LU Table, X Tables, Polygon and Offcut tables show the use of mixed materials. “ Soles of the Sea” is a circular sculptural piece which combines Soles of Shoes washed up on the shore and each shows the wear of not just the wearer but of wear of many years in the Irish Sea. The new Petula piece is an organic design involving 36 lights in a bright tangy green and white setup. Holland always looks for new avenues in design and art. His aim is to create items of drama, elegance and function influenced by nature and industry which are collectable and built to last.
Tommy Carew
Tommy is a graduate of The National Centre for Excellence in Furniture Design and Technology, Letterfrack (GMIT). He is a fourth generation woodworker and his work encompasses contemporary wooden furniture and wooden sculptural artwork.
Tommy has the highest regard for nature and for our beautiful landscape and his philosophy and approach are deeply rooted in sustainable practice and the longevity of good design. These ethics are present in his work throughout the design process, to the completion of each project.
Each design is carefully manufactured using age-old hand-making techniques combined with modern technology to attain unparalleled quality. Each beautiful creation is a celebration of master craftsmanship and innovative Irish design. Tommy’s work was selected for exhibit in the Emerging Makers category at the RDS National Craft Exhibition in 2015.
This year’s event will run from Wednesday 18th to Sunday 29th of July at Tribeton, Merchants Road, Galway. Admission is free and opening hours are 12 noon to 8pm daily. I cannot wait to go along and see the work of the very talented craftsmen/designers. You can read more about the exhibition here and if you are interested here is my review of the 2015 Design Island Exhibition!
