The art of Irish crafts

You can combine sightseeing with designer shopping on the Made in Kilkenny trail, writes MICHAEL PARSONS

Does the word “handicraft” leave you cold? Does it conjure up images of jumble sales with hearty ICA women selling hand-knitted tea cosies (is there any other kind?) and velveteen draught excluders disguised as snakes? Or West Brits, poor as Church of Ireland mice, shivering in half-restored stone farmhouses as they throw pots and do interesting things with beads and felt? Peig types spinning bawneens in gloomy ivy-covered cabins? A trip to Kilkenny should change your mind.

Most tourists who visit the city’s castle round off their trip by crossing the Parade to the original Kilkenny Design shop, one of the country’s best-known stockists of Irish crafts. If you have more time you should consider following the city’s craft trail, a leisurely do-it-yourself tour of the workshops and studios of some of Ireland’s leading craftspeople. Their products include jewellery, furniture, glassware, candles, textiles, baskets and pottery, and all stops are within 30km of Kilkenny city.

The trail is an ideal way to spend a weekend, combining a tour of off-the-beaten-track towns and villages with watching craftspeople at work and buying what they make. It is also an enjoyable day trip for last-minute Christmas shopping. Ecotourism and offsetting the impact of air travel have become fashionable concepts among travellers concerned about the environmental impact of their trips; craft trails are surely green-jersey tourism. The Crafts Council of Ireland has issued its own call to patriotism, with an appeal to buy Irish this holiday season.

Despite the recession and the national air of despondency, going on the craft trail is an uplifting experience, an opportunity to encounter people brimming with entrepreneurial skill, creative passion and infectious enthusiasm. They have created traditional cottage industries with a contemporary twist, the 21st-century fulfilment of de Valera’s vision for a countryside “whose fields and villages would be joyous with sounds of industry”.

The trail’s 26 members promote their products under the Made in Kilkenny banner. It would take a few days to visit all of them, so most visitors are likely to cherry-pick. The group’s website, madeinkilkenny.ie, divides the trail into disciplines, so whether your interest is jewellery or ceramics, you can choose the relevant workshops and studios, consult the map and head off. Most are open during normal business hours, with a few by appointment only. And while all of the craftspeople have samples of their work on display, they also offer a bespoke service for customised pieces.

The trail winds throughout the county, but most destinations are clustered into three centres: the city of Kilkenny, Castlecomer, in the north of the county, and Bennettsbridge, to the south, along the Nore Valley.

A good place to start is, conveniently, within strolling distance of Kilkenny’s main hotels. In 1966 a then 25-year-old German, Rudolf Heltzel, was one of the European craftsmen invited to Ireland by Córas Trachtála, the former Irish Export Board, to reinvigorate native crafts. He established the silver and metal workshops at Kilkenny Design and never went home. The studio and shop that Heltzel subsequently set up on Patrick Street have been a fixture of Kilkenny retailing ever since. His collectable jewellery, in gold, platinum and silver, has influenced a generation of Irish gold- and silversmiths. The trail has two other venues in the old city: Castle Arch Pottery, and Millinery by Rebekah Patterson.

Take a break at Kilkenny’s chicest new venue, the John Street Tea Wine Rooms at Langton House Hotel, an elegant spot for morning coffee, light lunch or afternoon tea in very smart surroundings.

Castlecomer, a former coal-mining town, is a 20km drive north. Just outside the town is the 30-hectare Discovery Park (discoverypark.ie), on the grounds of the former Wandesforde Estate. There’s an adventure playground and other activities to keep children amused, some pleasant wooded walks and the Jarrow Cafe, serving snacks and hot and cold lunches.

The craftspeople have taken up residence in Estate Yard, a handsomely restored complex of former outbuildings and stables that has been converted into workshops. Among them are Roscommon-born Rosemarie Durr, who produces pottery with a distinctive powder-blue glaze, and her partner, Andrew Ludick from Cleveland, Ohio, who specialises in sculptural ceramic vessels and bowls.

Local goldsmith Derek Blanche specialises in one-off commission pieces, especially engagement rings, while Dubliner Carl Parker is known for his awarding-winning pod pendants, which resemble miniature cages in gold or silver and contain black Tahitian pearls.

Bennettsbridge is an attractive village on the River Nore, a leisurely 10-minute drive south of Kilkenny. For such a small place (population: 685) it’s a hotbed of creativity.

At the entrance to the village is the Moth to a Flame candlemaking workshop, where Larry Kinsella says that deep-purple candles are fashionable this Christmas. He’s also selling a seasonal range of scented candles, including Cakes Snowflakes (spices), Naughty but Nice (cloves) and Mulled Wine (cinnamon).

A French cabinetmaker who moved to Ireland in 2002 has taken over the wood-turning and bespoke furniture-making business of Keith Mosse. Philippe Hetier, a graduate of the prestigious 900-year-old Les Compagnons du Devoirs guild, has opened a shop in the village that wouldn’t look out of place in the Marais district of Paris.

But the village’s main attraction – and by far the biggest of the craft trail’s venues – is the Nicholas Mosse Irish Country Shop and Visitors’ Centre.

Although the distinctive tableware is now sold throughout Ireland, assistant manager Carol Butler says people like to visit because they can see the potters at work and because collectors can find all the ranges here.

Another attraction is a seconds shop where items with minor imperfections are sold at a discount of about 20 per cent. An upstairs cafe, with lovely views over the river and its spectacular weir, serves excellent coffee, home-made scones and light lunches.

Made in Kilkenny (madein kilkenny.ie) has a shop at 51a Kieran Street, Kilkenny, with a selection to suit most budgets, until Christmas Eve. Saturday-Wednesday 11am- 6pm, Thursday and Friday 11am- 7pm

Kilkenny design

Kilkenny isn’t a centre of design by accident. In the 1960s, having decided to reinvigorate craft-based industries, the Government asked a group of Scandinavian designers for advice. The result was the establishment in 1963 of the Kilkenny Design Workshops, which revolutionised Irish industrial, graphic and craft design.

Although the workshops have closed, their legacy lives on. Today Kilkenny is home to the Crafts Council of Ireland and the National Craft Gallery, is the centre of Irish jewellery- making (and education) and is home to a flourishing network of craftspeople producing a range of designer products.

The National Craft Gallery, established in 2000 in the Stable Yard, opposite Kilkenny Castle, showcases the best work of Irish craftsmen. The current exhibition, Generation, which runs until January 10th, features work by 33 of “Ireland’s most promising future makers and designers as selected by a jury”. Admission is free.

Where to eat

John Street Tea Wine Rooms. Langton House Hotel, 67 John Street, Kilkenny, 056-7765133, langtons.ie.

Jarrow Cafe. Estate Yard, Discovery Park, Castlecomer, 056-4440707, discoverypark.ie.

Nicholas Mosse Pottery Cafe, Bennettsbridge, 056-7727505, nicholasmosse.com.

12 days of Christmas

1 A candle in the shape of a Skellig Michael beehive hut: €4 from Moth to a Flame.

2 A ceramic doorknob with a dragonfly motif: €10 from the Bridge Pottery.

3 A ceramic salt cellar and spoon: €15 from Earthworks Ceramics.

4 A large mug decorated with the Old Rose pattern, a perennial bestseller: €20 from Nicholas Mosse Pottery.

5 Glass baubles inscribed with Christmas 2009, for the tree: €25 from Jerpoint Glass.

6 A silver Mother and Child pendant: €49 from Jackie Ed Keilthy Jewellery.

7 A luxurious lambswool travel rug: €65 from Cushendale Woollen Mills.

8 A large scallop bowl in powder-blue glaze: €80 from Rosemarie Durr Pottery.

9 Wine rack made from French walnut and Irish oak and ash: €260 from Philippe Hetier at Keith Mosse Wood.

10 An 18ct gold pod pendant with a black Tahitian pearl: €800 from Carl Parker.

11 18ct yellow gold and Afghan lapis lazuli cufflinks: €2,430 from Rudolf Heltzel.

12 An 18ct yellow- and white-gold pendant featuring a 2.19ct padparascha Sri Lankan sapphire: €2,900 from Derek Blanche.