Irish Design 2015
Presenting a pivotal chapter in Irish design, Liminal explores, identifies and showcases Irish creativity, and how designers, makers and studios are moving across the disciplinary boundaries and limits of what design was, into what design can become. Taking the theme of liminality, which refers to spaces that lie between the known and the unknown, this exhibition explores the craft of collaboration and presents the exploratory journeys undertaken by designers.
Featuring over 20 designers, makers and studios involved in collaborations across disciplines, Liminal is the flagship show from Irish Design 2015 (ID2015), a year long initiative backed by the Irish government promoting and celebrating Irish design in Ireland and internationally. Moving through a series of design venues, starting in Milan, and followed by New York, Dublin and Eindhoven, the exhibition demonstrates Irish design excellence across disciplines and considers the possibilities for the future.
To find out more about ID2015 and Liminal, visit irishdesign2015.ie/liminal
The 23 Liminal exhibitors, who are either from Ireland or live in Ireland are:
Andrew Ludick – collaborating with Ceadogán Rugs
With a background in illustration, ceramicist Andrew Ludick moved to Ireland in 2003 from Cleveland, Ohio. Andrew’s work has slowly evolved towards forms that illustrate the natural properties of clay and the processes he use to create them. Ceadogán Rugs create contemporary designer rugs and wall-hangings. The team is focussed, highly skilled, very experienced and dedicated to pairing the traditional values of remarkable craftsmanship with contemporary design. Their collaboration with ceramic artist Andrew Ludick began in 2014 when Ceadogán Rugs Creative Director Fiona Gilboy saw the potential for his intuitive and playful use of pattern to translate perfectly into rug designs.
Andrew Ludick – Website
Ceadogán Rugs – Website
Cathal Loughnane – collaborating with Peter Sheehan
As Creative Director with Design Partners, Cathal Loughnane plays a central role in developing the company’s unique approach to industrial design, merging craft techniques with advanced computer aided technology. Peter Sheehan has worked for over 25 years across the spectrum of design consultancy for global brands, including Design Partners. His work has been exhibited globally including MoMA San Francisco and New York. The History Chair developed in collaboration with Cathal Loughnane was featured in “Vernacular” by the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland at the London Design Festival in 2013. Their newest collaboration, “ibi”, was inspired by the act of reliving a defining moment in our lives.
Cathal Loughnane – Website
Peter Sheehan – Facebook
Claire-Anne O’Brien
copyright 2009-2012 Claire-Anne O’Brien
Claire-Anne O’ Brien is a constructed textile designer who creates 3 dimensional, knitted fabrics for interiors. Traditional textile techniques such as weave, knotting and basketry inspire playful investigations into structure and form using the unique properties of knit. Tubes and ribs are assembled into intricate patterns, revealing and celebrating their construction through exaggerated scale and bold colour. The studio produces a range of knitted wool furniture as well as bespoke commissions and fabric development for commercial and private clients.
Derek Wilson
Belfast based Derek Wilson runs a successful contemporary studio practice that focuses on producing a range of hand thrown porcelain tableware as a selection of sculptural objects. He has exhibited extensively throughout the UK, Ireland and Europe. Derek will be showing pieces of his latest work at WantedDesign in NYC.
Designgoat – collaborating with chef Katie Sanderson
Designgoat creates experiences through products, spaces, furniture and food, working on a broad range of projects including self-directed products, commercial interiors and exhibition designs. Katie Sanderson creates special food experiences in spaces that are out of the ordinary: disused warehouses, galleries and a Wicklow rainforest. Vegetables are the main feature and Katie likes to evolve recipes from the past and use seaweeds and other sea vegetables as an enhancing ingredient. Their collaboration ‘Kelp” includes a specially designed food experience for a select few in New York.
Designgoat – Website
Katie Sanderson – Website
Design Partners – collaborating with clients SEEDlabs
Design Partners is a leading strategic product design consultancy with a team of award winning designers, engineers and makers working from studios in Dublin, San Francisco and Eindhoven. Showcasing digital design expertise in Ireland, Design Partners will unveil a new technology that will revolutionize how we interact with our living and workspaces, which is the result of a collaboration with SEEDlabs Inc.
Garrett Pitcher, Indigo & Cloth – collaborating with Designgoat
Garrett Pitcher is creative director at Indigo & Cloth, a menswear boutique and branding studio which works with a number of local and international brands, conceiving and producing creative ideas. Garrett has worked with Designgoat on the development of a chair and magazine rack.
Indigo & Cloth – Website
Designgoat – Website
Mourne Textiles – collaborating with Notion
Founded in the 1940s in a workshop at the foot of the beautiful Mourne mountains by Norwegian design pioneer Gerd Hay-Edie, Irish heritage brand Mourne Textiles uses traditional weaving techniques on custom-made handlooms. Gerd’s name became a staple in mid-century British design through long collaborations with Robin Day for Hille & Co and Terence Conran. Gerd’s designs are revived in vibrant tones and rich textures in a lifestyle collection that includes blankets, throws, shawls, cushions, tableware, rugs and upholstery fabrics. Notion industrial design studio has worked with small start-ups to global design brands, with a diverse portfolio that demonstrates their flexible and applicable approach to design. The small team of designers uses the industrial design philosophy thinking-through-making, designing everything from watches through to a remote home heating system.
Mourne Textiles – Website
Notion – Website
Perch – collaborating with Thomas Montgomery and Labofa
Perch specialises in research-led furniture design for Applied Human Movement. Their approach to critical thinking and problem solving is truly interdisciplinary and they always strive to find that perfect balance between interactive simplicity, scientific relevance and aesthetic beauty. Thomas Montgomery Ltd is one of Ireland’s leading contemporary soft seating and upholstered furniture manufacturers, producing high quality upholstered furniture for the office and commercial interiors markets. Labofa A/S is a Danish manufacturer specialising in the development and production of chairs and furniture for educational environments and public and private offices since the 1950s. Perch will be showing two projects in New York – “Float” which was realised with Thomas Montgomery and “RAY” which was developed with Labofa.
Perch – Website
Thomas Montgomery – Website
Labofa – Website
Rothschild and Bickers
Victoria Rothschild specialises in glass and lighting design and much of her work is a tactile response to the raw material, retaining a close relationship between the product and the process of making. She has worked on a diverse range of critically acclaimed projects with the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland and her work has been exhibited internationally. Victoria and business partner Mark Bickers set up the Rothschild and Bickers studio in Hertford to produce beautiful hand-blown glass lighting. Their “Pick and Mix” lighting range will be shown in New York.
Rothschild and Bickers – Website
Snug
From their workshop in Snugboro, Co. Wicklow, Conor Kelly and Nell Roddy run Snug, creating well-crafted and designed furniture that sits comfortably in any home. Conor is a trained cabinet-maker with over 15 years experience working with crafted furniture in Ireland, Kenya and New Zealand. Nell has a passion for design and together they started Snug in April 2014 to demonstrate their belief that good design can transform everyday living. Each piece is a celebration of design that is playful, functional and crafted.
Studio AAD – Commissioned to develop a visual narrative of Irish design
Studio AAD is a Dublin design consultancy working across disciplines to deliver ideas, solve problems and build tools that help clients explain, engage and make an impact. Studio AAD is also a founding member of 100Archive, a site dedicated to mapping the quality and diversity of Irish communication design with the aim of providing a strong context for its development. Studio AAD will be presenting Connections, a capsule exhibition solution developed to tour internationally for Irish Design 2015.
Studio PSK – collaborating with MCor Technologies and Fintan O’Toole
Studio PSK is a collaborative design studio whose work spans physical, digital and print media, often focusing on complex contemporary issues and the use of design as a way to communicate or challenge these. MCor Technologies Ltd is an innovative manufacturer of the world’s most affordable, full-colour and eco-friendly 3D printers. Fintan O’Toole is literary editor of The Irish Times and Leonard L. Milberg visiting lecturer in Irish Letters at Princeton University. For New York, Patrick Stevenson Keating of Studio PSK has responded to essays by Fintan O’Toole and the objects being shown are the result of a collaboration using MCor’s 3D printers.
Studio PSK – Website
MCor Technologies – Website
Zero-G
Zero-G is a Dublin-based design practice engaged in research, strategy and design. With creative partners globally, they develop stories that focus purpose and meaning, creating tools that empower employees to look at opportunities with fresh eyes, and demonstrating the power of design to make things better for the user, be they customer, employee, audience, or citizen. Zero-G will be presenting a specially created infographic navigating the evolution of Ireland’s legislative, judicial, executive and local government structures since the country’s 1937 constitution.
What is Irish Design 2015?
Irish Design 2015 (ID2015) is a year-long programme exploring, promoting and celebrating Irish design and designers through events and activities on the island of Ireland and in international capitals of design and commerce. As part of ID2015, Dublin has been designated World Design Hub 2015 by the International Association of Designers. High-profile events and activities both at home and abroad will position Ireland at the heart of a design focused, forward-thinking, creative international economy. The international profile of ID2015 offers a unique opportunity for Irish designers to develop relationships with design studios abroad, to build lasting partnerships in a range of design sectors and to highlight the significant role and impact that design has in every facet of life.
Through ID2015’s participation at ‘Wanted’ as part of ‘NYCxDesign’ we aim to promote Ireland’s talents and reputation internationally, highlight the quality of Irish design to international audiences and to maximise the impact of international partnerships re-enforcing the strong ties Ireland has with the USA.