Carolyn Donnelly: 'Go the extra mile and use a tablecloth. It only takes a moment'

It’s the curation of a collection that excites the designer, says she whose summer homeware collection in Dunnes Stores has something for 'every room in the home'

Fri, 16 Jun, 2023 - 08:39

Carol O’Callaghan

Fashion designers switching to interiors seems to be a natural and successful transition. Just think of Versace and Ralph Lauren, with H&M and Next doing it more affordably.

I remember a particularly disastrous design partnership some years back between a luxury car brand and a high-end kitchen appliance manufacturer who made a much-hyped-up kettle.

Back in the days of my product reviewing, I was sent a sample of this ultra-stylish brushed metal beauty which wobbled from side to side as it came up to the boil. I just managed to whip it off its base before it toppled.

Then there was the car manufacturer and a stainless steel and glass pepper grinder that ground off shards of glass more effectively than it ground peppercorns.

But no such catastrophes in the ongoing collaboration between Dunnes Stores and designer Carolyn Donnelly.

Just in time for summer projects is the next stage in the development of the Eclectic home range which has been evolving through the seasons for 11 years.

“I was always involved in ladies' fashion with various brands through the years,” says Carolyn.

Soft, velvety textiles include tablecloths and cushions featuring muted colours, pattern, stripes and tassels.

“But I always had the idea of doing a homewares collection and no one else was really doing it. I was devouring things I saw in magazines but I had trouble finding things I wanted.”

It was this that prompted her to approach Dunnes Stores’ Margaret Heffernan.

“They were already working with Paul Costelloe but I wanted to do something completely different. I presented mood boards to her and I got started almost immediately.”

“It’s a very large collection now,” she says, “Bedrooms, living rooms, bathrooms; every room in the home. It’s about putting your own look together, not matchy. Someone could buy a vase and then go to the local fete and buy a jug, and a table somewhere else."

Popping into Dunnes for a browse, the look is eye-catching without being over-the-top; eclectic overall in concept as you’d expect from a collection of the same name, with elements of Asian influence — birds and cherry trees on soft velvety textiles, and another look with echoes of 50s retro Italian.

“It’s a high summer collection; birds of paradise cushions, frames and plant pots,” Carolyn explains. “Everyone is into planting since covid.”

For timeless style each iteration builds on the one that came before so whether you bought something today or five years ago, they work together, in what she says is, “individual style, created with the use of colour and texture and shape”.

Design influences from the 50s in the collection include rattan furniture, even the return of the magazine rack. But it’s in the styling where everything comes together with Carolyn creating vignettes such as a metal side table with a modern lamp and vintage-style photo frames.

As we’re now in summer mode and spending time eating and socialising al fresco, some lovely enamel trays for ferrying drinks from the kitchen are covetable as are melamine wares which Carolyn says can be flung around outdoors.

They’re vintage in style and short of picking them up, you wouldn’t know they’re anything other than porcelain. Using vintage colours, Carolyn carries the look through to table textiles.

For those of us who are interiors confident, new collections, especially one that works year after year, are fun to dip into, but for those who need a steer Carolyn offers her tips for summer interiors and al fresco.

“I tend not to use garish or primary colours; teals and turquoises, dirty pinks. The excitement for me is in how things are put together. It’s the curation of them that excites me.

The Eclectic collection for spring/summer 2023 from Dunnes Stores starts at €4 for individual pieces.