Obituaries

David Shaw-Smith obituary: Film-maker who documented dying traditional crafts

Shaw-Smith and his wife, Sally, travelled Ireland to make films such as Hands for RTÉ

David Shaw-Smith

Sat Jan 30 2021 - 03:00

Born: January 20th, 1939
Died: January 16th, 2021

David Shaw-Smith, the award-winning film-maker, photographer and archivist of Irish life in the late 20th century, has died following a long illness.

A key figure in the revival of interest in craft in Ireland, he is best remembered for Hands, the series of 37 documentaries on traditional Irish crafts that he made for RTÉ television with his wife, Sally Shaw-Smith, in the 1970s and 1980s.

His awards include the Special Jury Selection at Los Angeles International Film Festival (1993), the Jacob’s Television Critics Award (1986) and the Golden Harp Award (1984). He received an honorary doctorate from Trinity College Dublin in 1987. His films are held in several collections including the American Museum of Broadcasting and the Museum of Modern Art in New York as well as in public libraries throughout Ireland.

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Speaking about his reason for documenting Irish traditional crafts, he told Gay Byrne on The Late Late Show in 1984: “I was very concerned that these wonderful traditional crafts would disappear without a record.” During the filming of Hands, David and Sally travelled the length and breadth of Ireland in their Volkswagen van – often with their children – visiting blacksmiths, beekeepers, woodcarvers, thatchers, goldsmiths, potters, glassblowers, instrument makers, weavers and lace makers.

David Shaw-Smith

Speaking to The Irish Times in 2013, Shaw-Smith recalled: “We would arrive with the family in the VW van and we’d say, “Look, we’re fascinated by what you’re doing ... Can you tell me a little bit about your craft? Then I would literally sit down and record the person ... before going over to the van to make my shot list. When filming was finished, I would then do another interview with them and their tone and their performance would be completely different because they were relaxed with me. They realised that I was completely genuine and that I wasn’t trying to hoodwink them and make a quirky film like an American might make. I had great respect for them.”

Updated series

For more than 20 years, the original film for the Hands series sat in tea chests in a barn in Co Mayo until, in 2013, a crew from RTÉ brought the 1,800 cans to the RTÉ archives. That same year, director and producer Gillian Marsh made In Good Hands, a six-part documentary for RTÉ in which the Shaw-Smiths revisited six of the original artisans – including weavers in Donegal, metalworkers in Wexford and potters in Kilkenny – to see how they adapted to the demands of the modern world.

Shaw-Smith who was an active and enthusiastic board member of the Crafts Council of Ireland for 25 years, also compiled the illustrated book Ireland’s Traditional Crafts, which ran to three editions. He was a member of Aosdána and co-founder of Cearta Inneona, Ireland’s first blacksmithing school in Belmullet, Co Mayo.

A World of Houses, a series of films about Irish heritage, were among his first documentaries made for television, in 1975. Patterns, a documentary series about contemporary craftworkers and Dublin: A Personal View, two six-part series made with the late amateur Dublin historian Éamonn Mac Thomáis, were other major works.

And the documentary Connemara and its Ponies, which was originally made for Irish television in 1969, went on to be broadcast on network television in the United States. More recently, Shaw-Smith made Sign Magic (2006) about the sign writer Tomás Tuipéar; A Life in Colour (2007), on Irish ceramicist John ffrench; and Cots and Cotsmen, a documentary on traditional Irish fishing boats.

David was the only child of landscape designer Desmond and artist Cynthia. He grew up in a house his parents built on his grandparents’ Ballawley country house estate near the Dublin suburb of Dundrum, which was then countryside. He was intrigued by all aspects of farming and wildlife so, after attending boarding school in Scotland, he went to agricultural college there and worked on farms in Norway and France.

Artistic flair

On his return to Dublin, with plans to emigrate to the United States, he met his wife-to-be, Sally Exley, at a dance in Wesley College Dublin. The couple married in 1962 and built their own house in Brides Glen in Dublin, where their three daughters and son were born and reared. All four of their children inherited the artistic flair and talents of both their parents.

In the early 1960s he got a job first as a trainee floor manager and then in the lighting department in the new RTÉ television station. Not long afterwards he quit RTÉ, having been approached by wildlife film-maker Gerrit van Gelderen and Éamon de Buitléar to do an apprenticeship in film-making. He learned everything on the job and began his own career as an independent film-maker in the early 1970s. He supplemented his income by photographing weddings, christenings and other formal events. His wife, Sally, worked as an illustrator while also being part of the loyal and appreciated production team on all his documentaries.

When their children were grown up, David and Sally Shaw-Smith moved to Partry House on the shores of Lough Carra in Co Mayo, where they ran a guesthouse for five years. The couple subsequently built a new house in the same area. Before he became ill, Shaw-Smith had started a project recording the heritage of Co Mayo. He leaves behind a rich legacy of films and lifelong collection of photographs, which his family plan to archive.

He is survived by his wife, Sally, his children, Emma, Melissa, Sophie and Daniel and nine grandchildren

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