Inaugural Design Tower Summer School

We are very excited to be involved in the Design Tower Summer School. It is an opportunity for people to get very focused tuition and introduction to working with materials, conducted by makers in their own workshops, and get to meet the people engaged in other workshops and share stories of your experience.
Do you want to make a bag for your laptop?
or try your hand at sculpting the human head?
or designing and making your very own piece of jewellery?

We are all looking forward to welcoming you into our world of making.
For our own course you can contact us here.

A unique and extraordinary event !

On the 2nd of June on the ground floor of the Design Tower there will be a lunchtime concert.
It will be performed by 5 members of the RTE concert orchestra.
And uniquely, they will all be performing with instruments made by luthier Michiel DeHoog from the Tower.

no, your eyes do not deceive you...

Our favorite tailor just posted this on his own blog, and we absolutely love it!
Exactly what we like about refinement, and playing with ideas out of context. When you spend all day looking at round brilliant cuts, this is what you should wear.

Wild doesn't even vaguely have to mean badly made, and highly skilled does not equal staid or boring. Way to go TE!

Bruce Metcalf show opening

American jeweller Bruce Metcalf has a show of his work opening in the National Craft Gallery in Kilkenny this coming friday. He has been consistently inventive and inquisitive in his work for going on 4 decades. It is really interesting to see how his work has evolved or developed over time which you can see browsing through his site here.

70s

80s

90s

00s

Bruce will be giving a talk about his work at 5pm this friday before the show opens, which is bound to be both intriguing and illuminating.

Size matters !

I was talking to a customer last week about the subtleties of volume and proportion when it comes to wedding bands. Quite often when it comes to mass-manufactured bands the makers are very conscious of the weight of the band in terms of the retail price point and the cost of the material. Therefore by common denominator, bands tend to be dictated by width and will be as thin or shallow as possible in the height off the finger, usually ranging between 1.3mm and 1.6mm deep. But I have even seen rings that I have repaired which have been 0.9mm to 1.1mm !
To go the opposite way, if you leave a small fraction of extra depth, it can have a considerable effect on the feel and heft of the ring. We really like to make our standard rings a minimum of between 1.6mm and 2.0mm deep. You would be surprised how little extra it takes to make an appreciable difference and also how short a time it takes wearing something for your hand to assimilate the weight and become accustomed to it.

It reminded me of a wedding band I made last year. This was really simple, but very effective, and a really gorgeous feel. It is 3mm deep and has a very pronounced curve on the inside and is a real statement of simplicity. As soon as you pick it up you know that it is something special.

Our tip is never to scrimp on weight if you can manage it, especially with wedding bands. After wearing it every day for 20, 30 or 40 years, you won't regret it.

Craft Trail around the capital

for one night only, on Friday 10th of June, from 5 to 8pm you will be able to visit and explore many of the best workshops in Dublin.

See you there.

http://designerdublin.ie/explore-craft/


... of course you can call in and see us anytime...
: )

Embrace no:2 part 2

just got a sumptuous new photo taken by Trevor Harte of Embrace 2, which we previously wrote about here.
It was part of a shoot for our listing in a new site dedicated to designers and craftspeople in the capital; DesignerDublin.ie

There is going to be lots of events happening over the coming months as part of the Year of Craft 2011.
The World Crafts Council AGM will be in Dublin Castle in the first week of June.
One interesting talk that I'll be definitely going to will be "Lunch With The Masters".
Paul Costelloe, Peter O'Brien & Deirdre McQuillan will give a talk on June 10th at 51 St Stephens Green from 12.30 to 2pm. You can book a place here while they are still available.