Twelve designers and artists from the Louth Craftmark Designers Network are to celebrate August Craft Month by opening a pop-up store in Powerscourt Townhouse Shopping Centre in Dublin for the month of August.
August Craft Month is Ireland’s unique celebration of the craft sector, providing opportunities for everyone to learn about, make, see and buy crafts.
Louth Craftmark Designers Network has 68 members and, according to network Secretary Aoife Burke, it is going from strength to strength.
“Our members are highly skilled and cover a wide range of disciplines including glass, ceramics, jewellery, textiles, woodwork, print, artwork as well as candles, fragrances for the home and handmade skincare products.
“We are delighted that 12 of our designers have teamed up to make their beautifully handcrafted items available in the heart of Dublin.”
“Whether you are hoping to treat yourself to something truly wonderful, or looking for a special gift, you will find a range of beautiful and unique items from Louth Craftmark Designers Network available to buy in Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, Unit 4 (on the ground floor between Cloon Keen and MoMuse).
The twelve artists, all of them women, are:
Noelle Manley – ART by NOELLA
Noella’s work captures the beauty and colour of the world around us. Noella paints mainly in oils using a combination of palette knife and brushwork to achieve vibrant colour and texture in her work. Noella regularly exhibits at the Peoples Art Exhibition in Dublin and has had three solo exhibitions of her work. Her art can be found in homes across Ireland, UK, USA and as far away as Australia. https://www.instagram.com/art_bynoella/
Sonya Reynolds – Visual Artist
Sonya has a BA Degree in Fine Art specialising in printmaking from DIT Dublin and works with acrylics, water colours and silks. Inspired by nature, colour, fashion, people, expressions, landscapes, flowers, trees, the sea, fairy tales and everyday life, Sonya loves to experiment with different techniques and mediums often using inks, gouache, tissue and rubbing alcohol in her work, to achieve various effects and enjoys using vibrant colours to create joyful paintings. Sonya also creates personalised art and is available for commissions. https://www.instagram.com/sonyareynoldsart/
Tracey Fry – Visual Artist
Tracy is a visual artist based in Dundalk Co. Louth. She studied Fine Art Printmaking in NCAD. She works mainly in printmaking and painting but also works with salvaged slate to create one-off jewellery pieces and gifts. Her collagraph print work is inspired by the landscape and science; and many pieces explore the invisible nano world and the intricate patterns found in nature. Tracy also paints commission landscape and portrait paintings. Her most recent work involved experimenting with resin to create vibrant relief landscapes and portraits https://tracyfry.ie/
Yvonne Mullen – LORE Natural Skincare
LORE natural skincare is handmade in the scenic Cooley Peninsula, Co Louth using only natural, ethically sourced and sustainable ingredients. Lore’s founder Yvonne Mullen, a trained holistic therapist, uses organic botanical oils and extracts, therapeutic-grade essential oils along with other premium ingredients to nourish your skin and promote overall wellbeing. Lore products don’t contain any harsh chemicals and all the packaging can be recycled. Yvonne has been creating her products since 2021, and they are available in stores around Ireland as well as online https://lorenaturalskincare.ie
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Michele Hannan Ceramics
Michele has been working with clay for over thirty years. She grew up making things and her passion led her to the National College of Art and Design, where her love of ceramics began. She has developed her own unique and distinctive range of ceramic products and one-off pieces. To add to her retail offering, over lockdown 2020 Michele developed a new collection of porcelain jewellery, called MiHa Porcelain Jewellery, including earrings and necklaces. Michelle’s work is characterised by organic shapes, combined with her love of colour, texture and pattern, drawing her inspiration from nature, Irish wildlife, the Irish coast and sea. Michele’s work encapsulates and celebrates the beauty and joy of the natural world. https://www.michelehannanceramics.com
Leonora Reilly – Visual Artist
Lenora is a contemporary landscape artist who uses acrylics and mixed media to create loose, abstracted almost, art with lots of colour, texture, and atmosphere in her home studio. Self-taught and studying new techniques and practices to further her art career, Leonora also paints en plein air and has organised the Louth Plein Air Art Festival for other artists which is now celebrating its third year. Leonora has also appeared as a Wild Card on Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year 2019 & 2022. https://leonorareilly.com
Jennie Ritchie – Textile Designer
Jennie Ritchie is a vibrant new Irish textile brand focusing on nature and a connection with the outdoors. The essence of her designs is laid back luxe, bohemian and colourful, like seeing a flower on a gloomy day. The brand has the effortless luxury of linen at its heart. Jennie’s unique hand-painted designs are colourful and abstract, inspired by the nature of Ireland, the colours of the Caribbean, the sunshine of Australia and the elegance of France – the essence of years of travel and her work amidst magnificent interior designs. https://jennieritchie.ie
Emma Fallon – Emma’s So Naturals
Since 2010 Emma’s Fallon has designed and created a collection of natural, high quality, plant-based wellness and home-fragrance products, scented with her own unique and inspired blends of pure essential oils. Born from a passion for all things natural, Emma has grown this handmade wellness and home-fragrance collection to include three styles of long lasting, clean burning candles, handmade palm-free soaps, and new aroma diffuser oil blends, in eight beautifully natural pure essential oil fragrances, with some limited-edition seasonal scents released at different times. https://www.emmas.ie
Clémence Prosen
Clémence is a French-born Irish artist, a surface pattern designer and a calm-life advocate. She is a self-taught artist who paints mostly in oils and watercolours and her art is inspired by the calming beauty of nature and the simple moments of life. Clémence worked as a project manager for 15 years in the corporate sector, using her creative skills in product development. In 2014, she started creating art more regularly again. She found mindfulness and peace in art, after a day of working in toxic environments. www.clemenceprosen.com
Aoife Burke – Glass Artist
Aoife Burke’s work is formed by fusing clear and coloured glass, creating and building elements that she combines to become the finished pieces. It can be a slow and delicate process, but one that allows her to explore the wonderfully expressive nature of this beautiful material.
The very science of glass is fascinating – instead of colours, think metals and minerals (selenium, sulphur, copper, lead, silver, gold…), which is how colours in glass are made. Some elements react with others and this can be used when designing in glass. That is why her logo contains a nod to the atom symbol. Growing up on the banks of the Boyle River, she finds visual inspiration in nature, in a splash of dappled light, a richly coloured leaf, a perfectly formed shell… Her work often takes her deeper though, as she uses it to explore some of life’s interesting questions. https://www.aoifeburke.glass
Cecelia Casey – Jewellery Designer
Cecelia loves to incorporate a vast array of colours, textures and gemstone shapes into her work and create truly special jewellery. Cecelia’s pieces are a combination of the classic and modern. The durability, versatility and beauty of the gemstones are combined with precious metal to create pieces that are beautiful and unique. The beauty of the Irish coastline and the ever-changing colours of nature are a constant inspiration to Cecelia. https://www.facebook.com/ceciliacaseydesigns
Caoimhe Tuthill – Boann Irish Felt Designs
Textile designer Caoimhe Tuthill creates one-of-a-kind hand felted shawls, accessories, and artwork, handmade in her Slane home. Caoimhe uses the ancient craft of wet felting to make a distinctive style which is heavily influenced by her love of the Irish landscape, the natural world & her Neolithic surroundings of Newgrange and Dowth. https://www.boann.ie
Louth Craftmark Designers Network Pop Store is open in Dublin’s Powerscourt Townhouse Shopping Centre from 4th – 30th August 2023. Mon-Sat, 10am-6pm, Sundays 12pm-6pm. Closed bank holiday Monday.
Check out all the designers on Instagram
