A New LifeJamie McCarthy-Fisher gave up a media career in London to work in a Cork studio, and has never looked back, he tells Michelle McDonagh
Moving from a cramped third-floor studio flat in London to a spacious farmhouse surrounded by a large garden with its own vegetable patch and fields as far as the eye can see was like a dream come true for Jamie McCarthy-Fisher and his family.
Although he has made a complete career change, switching from journalism to the world of business, McCarthy-Fisher is fortunate enough to still be able to use his creativity, albeit in a very different way.
He and his wife, Miranda, were living in a cramped flat in Camden with their one-year-old child in 1998 when they realised it was time to get out and move on. McCarthy-Fisher, who was a news editor on a weekly publication called Building Design, had been looking around for a job in journalism outside London but found nothing of interest at that time.
When his father-in-law, Brian Scott McCarthy, put out a general offer to his five daughters to see if any of them were interested in moving to Cork to learn about the business, Wild Goose Studio which he had set up in 1969, Miranda and Jamie decided to give it a go.
He recalls: "We decided to take the chance and move to Cork and I went freelance. It was August when we moved here and the weather was beautiful. We moved into a farmhouse that Brian had rebuilt from a ruin in Ballydehob with a lovely garden, trees and fields all around us. It really seemed like a dream come true."
An Irishman living in Britain, Brian Scott McCarthy had seen himself as a wild goose, hence the name of his business which he actually started as a hobby. He brought his family back to Cork every summer and in 1969, he founded Wild Goose in Kinsale with Kathleen Smyth. The studio has been designing and making gifts inspired by Irish history, poetry and mythology since then.
All of the pieces are hand-made by skilled craftsworkers at the studio and finished in bronze or cast iron.
Initially, McCarthy-Fisher continued to freelance for the London Independent's architecture page and for other UK publications while learning the business from his father-in-law two days a week. An English literature graduate, he had always seen himself as a writer and had developed a particular interest in the area of architecture.
"Two days at the studio soon turned into three and the part-time arrangement became more formal. At the same time, the freelancing was getting more difficult. I was not in the right place so I couldn't get to events to meet people, I could only do so much over the phone."
Around the time his second son was born, at the end of 1999, he realised he could not keep both careers going and he chose to go full time with Wild Goose.
"It seems an unlikely move from journalism to business when I had no business background but I found a lot of it came quite naturally. I found I got by on intuition and common sense. I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed the nuts and bolts of the manufacturing industry."
As well as his role as managing director of the business, McCarthy-Fisher is also the chief concept designer, putting his creativity into the ideas that he gives to the artists who design the pieces.
"Over the last four years, I recognised that solely concentrating on the tourist market does not give us enough security of income. While the tourism grew in the 1980s and 1990s, it was dented by September 11, Sars and foot and mouth, so I started to look at developing more products for the domestic market and the contemporary home."
He says his late father-in-law had a deep interest in analytical psychologist Carl Jung and symbolism and he always tried to create gifts that inspired the imagination and had a special meaning attached. McCarthy-Fisher has drawn on the knowledge of the wider family to keep this important dimension of the business alive.
Three years ago, McCarthy-Fisher carried out a strategic review of the business to decide on a direction for the future. These days, he spends most of his time on new product development and he ran a major rebranding project this year.
He does miss journalism at times and talking and thinking about architecture but finds working at the ideas end of Wild Goose very satisfying. He works three days in the studio at Kinsale and two in the small office he built at home. The commute between Ballydehob and Kinsale is over an hour each way, but he doesn't mind.
"It's a lot nicer compared to the commute in London. The roads are relatively empty, at least now I am moving all the time rather than sitting in traffic. I'm happy to have got to the point of working two days at home, it's a lot more balanced."
One of the biggest attractions for McCarthy-Fisher and his wife in moving to Cork was the large garden around their new home. They now have a well established vegetable garden supplying them with fresh produce and clucking hens providing them with eggs.
"I was really bad at gardening when we first came, I had never done it before and didn't realise how hard digging is. I remember trying to dig the vegetable patch on a really wet day, then I gave up and hired a rotavator.
"Eventually, a local farmer helped us dig and I got a lot better."
Given the gulf between north London and Ballydehob, it took the McCarthy-Fisher family a surprisingly short time to settle into their new home. Now expecting their fourth child, Miranda is delighted to be able to stay at home with the children, a role she finds very rewarding.
He remarks: "It was surprising how easy the transition was, we really felt at home here very quickly. We love Ballydehob, it has a very good community.
"The children are having a very old-fashioned childhood. They are free to roam around, climb trees and ride their bicycles and they go to a small school of 409 children; we're very lucky.
"We are surrounded by great restaurants here so we don't miss a whole lot about London any more. I think cities are great places to live when you are young and have no children but I think they are hard places for families and parents with children.
"There's a great freedom in being able to open the door and let your children run around outside."