INTERIOR DESIGN 08:Ceadogán Rugs has crafted 14 Art Deco pieces to the designs of Mainie Jellett, and they go on sale next week at Interior Design 08, writes DEIRDRE MCQUILLAN.
AN EXHIBITION of 14 Art Deco rugs handmade in Ireland to the designs of Mainie Jellett (1897-1944), the pioneering Irish modernist artist, will form the centrepiece of the forthcoming Interior Design 08 at the RDS next week. It will be a rare opportunity to see woven examples of Cubism designed by a remarkable Irish woman who believed in the close relationship between art and craft and valued it, according to Bruce Arnold, writing in the accompanying catalogue.
Jellett was born in Dublin to a southern Unionist family. She was briefly a pupil of William Orpen, and trained with Walter Sickert in London, where she met Evie Hone, and the pair moved to Paris. They studied there with the avant garde artist Albert Gleizes and, influenced by his theories on abstract art, started to develop their own ideas about design, colour and composition. Like other modernists such as Sonia Delaunay and Eileen Gray, they were inspired by Bauhaus theories of design and the co-operation of artist and craftsman.
They were the first to exhibit abstract paintings in Dublin, and their work was initially greeted with scepticism, but this progressive "new art" established Modernism in this country and ultimately led to the foundation of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art. "They broke the sight barrier for Irish art lovers at an ultra-conservative time," according to Brian Fallon in his book An Age of Innocence, on Irish culture 1930-1960.
Jellett had strong views on interior design and was fastidious about colour. Simplicity was key. She liked the same colours for walls and ceilings, hated pink and florid wallpaper, emphasised the use of warm colour for north facing rooms and championed polished wooden floors with rugs. In an essay on house decoration, she discussed colour guidelines and contrasts to be followed equally in wall paint as in rugs. Her first carpet designs were exhibited in l928 and show how she applied these principles in practise. The designs are bold, linear and colourful.
The modern revival of Mainie Jellett's rug designs began in the 1990s with a exhibition in Dublin organised by Bruce Arnold, a long time champion of the artist, which was followed by a further showing of Jellett rugs during the Wexford Opera Festival and elsewhere. Those rugs were made by Ceadogán Rugs in Wellingtonbridge, the same company responsible for the present exhibition. Each rug is made, using a hand held machine called a tufting gun, with fine New Zealand wools dyed to specifications. The fine details of the design are tufted first, the main background areas being the final colours to be inserted.
For Dennis Kenny of Ceadogán Rugs, the project has been an exceptionally satisfying one. "In general, the shapes are simple and lines are open. There is no intricate detail and no blending, though the big piece was very time consuming. Jellett's original rugs would have been hand knotted, but the product would not have been as good as gun tufting which gives a much denser pile. I love her colour combinations," he says.
Kenny has a surprising connection with the Jellett family. A former pig farmer, he took over Ceadogán Rugs from Tom Ceadogán, a dyehouse master in Youghal Carpets, who set up the company in 1980 making mostly hearth rugs, and who retired nine years later. Ceadagán was also a cellist who played with the Wexford orchestra. During the opera festival he met Bay Jellett, Mainie's youngest sister, who played with the RTÉ Symphony Orchestra. Mainie herself was also an accomplished pianist who considered taking it up professionally. That sense of harmony must have expressed itself as much in her music as in her art.
It is not the first time that Ceadogán has worked with artists. They completed a private commission of a series of three wall hangings designed by Robert Ballagh for an apartment in New York and have also worked with textile artist Patricia Murphy, who is based in Leitrim. Other commissions have included rugs for the Irish embassy in Dar es Salaam, Dunbrody Country House and Microsoft's European headquarters. Today, the company employs almost 20 people. "We are bespoke rugmakers, and although the exhibition is very significant and interesting in terms of the artistic element, it is also about the highest standards of home-produced craft and craftsmanship." Jellett would certainly have approved.
Art Deco Rugs designed by Mainie Jellett go on display from May 15th to 18th at Interior Design 08 at the RDS, Dublin 4. Sizes range from 8ft x 4ft to l5ft x 10ft. There is also an 8ft circular design. Prices range from €4,544 to €21,300. In next Saturday's magazine, Eoin Lyons profiles designers taking part in the show.