Meet Eleanor Harpur, the woman behind Ireland’s craft showcase

Last weekend was one of the biggest for Irish crafted design when Showcase — Ireland’s Creative Expo took place at Dublin’s RDS with over 450 exhibitors.

Launching new trends, and products designed and made in Ireland to buyers from home and abroad, it was the first major trade event of “Year of Irish Design”, which is a Government initiative to celebrate and promote the home-grown designed and crafted product and to launch what’s new for 2015.

So what can we expect from crafted design for interiors this year?

“There is a general trend in consumer behaviour, and within retailing, which now focuses on the integrity of design and production,” says Eleanor Harpur.

A production designer and visual consultant, Harpur, (whose career credentials include a stint as art director for Habitat and as a consultant for Brown Thomas, The Conran Shop and The Design and Crafts Council of Ireland), curated and mentored the designers’ participating in the expo.

“This trend is great news for Irish designers and crafts people,” she says, “as it allows them the platform to tell the story of their products through the design and manufacturing process.”

For the consumer, it means increased access to these products, which Eleanor sees creating a more discerning and design conscious consumer.

“With the explosion of online retailing, consumers now have more access to information and are more likely to make a considered purchase when they know where and how the product was produced.”

So while all of this means good news for the designer-makers who operate small businesses with small output, far from the world of mass-production, what is the benefit to the consumer who will ultimately choose, or not, to buy their products?

“They’re buying well-considered design, using high-quality materials that will always be timeless and commercial, with the general trend for this year, making materials and simple shapes integral,” Eleanor says,

She also emphasises the value of having something beautiful and useful in your environment that you’re unlikely to see in anyone else’s house.

“There’s the pleasure of using a handcrafted wooden board, or hand-thrown ceramic mug, or a hand-woven blanket every day, which is wonderful. Knowing these pieces were created by someone’s imagination and their hands brings personality and integrity.

“It’s also very exciting to see age-old techniques and crafts still being used to create very contemporary pieces.”

For the aficionado who is confident in their choice of the designed and crafted product, there are more opportunities to buy, not just online and direct from the maker, but thanks to the growing number of small design shops, craft galleries and pop-up shops.

But for the novice, there can be a lack of confidence and the uncertainty of how to integrate it into their home amongst the more mass-produced things we all have. Eleanor advises choosing a functional piece and not placing it in a corner or a cabinet which would render it useless.

“Any piece will work in your home alongside high street finds when you have a use for it. Look for timeless pieces that you will use every day — natural linen, woven textiles, beautifully glazed ceramics or hand-blown glass which will never date, and they are pieces you will treasure.”

Among those she handpicked for her Home & Gift Edit at Showcase — a visual synopsis of what she considered to be some of the best on show — were textiles from 31 Chapel Lane, glass by BTU Studio, and ceramics by Arran Street East. Check them out.

Cost is another consideration that can put off a buyer as inevitably a handcrafted item is going to cost more to make than its mass-produced equivalent. But Eleanor says “Don’t be afraid of investing in something you love —you will have a piece of crafted design for a lifetime.”

Ever the interior voyeur, putting the question to her of how she buys for her own home is irresistible.

“I have a simple ethos when it comes to buying anything for my home, crafted or not. I try to only buy something I have a use for and I will only buy something if I really love it.

"The same goes for craft: if I feel the piece is beautifully designed and functional, and I have a need for it, then that’s enough. Although I’m aware of trends, this is never something that will influence a purchase. It’s got to fit with your personal style.”

Next week we visit furniture-maker John Lee.

BLOWN AWAY

Carol O'Callaghan looks at Irish craft glass

Lovers of finely blown but highly functional glassware should check out BTU Studio which won Showcase’s best home product award.

Run by Scott Benefield and Andrea Spencer, the studio is named after the acronym of the energy measurement British Thermal Unit, as a nod to the high temperatures used to make an annual product line of hand-blown functional and decorative objects.

The award-winning pouring vessels are streamlined elegant jugs finished in linear surface decoration. They also form part of the display at Ireland’s pavilion this week at the Maison et Objet design show in Paris.

www.btustudio.com  or www.giveirishcraft.com