Wish List: View Cork like Picasso and get in sync with tidal clocks

Esther N McCarthy syncs and swims with a tidal clock and looks at Cork through the lens of Picasso with eight fabulous finds to make our lives and living spaces more fun as the new school year starts

We're thrilled to hear furniture designer and maker extraordinaire Fergal O’Leary has opened Horizon Furniture’s new studio workshop. 

He celebrated recently with an exhibition and open studio featuring new and older pieces, artists’ models and prototypes. Fergal was there to answer questions and discuss the process from the design concept to the finished piece. 

The new studio workshop at Unit O11, Marina Commercial Park is where the magic happens. They turn raw planks of hardwood into beautiful pieces of furniture, like this stunning spectrum console table. Call in or find them on Instagram Fergalhorizon and FB Horizon Furniture. 

If you're one of the sea swim brigade — and who isn't these days? — stay in sync with the sea with this cool current clock, it shows the status of the tide at a glance by counting down the hours until high and low tide. With original artwork inspired by 10 different coastal locations around Ireland displayed on the clock face, whether you're a hardcore sea swimmer, a surfer, a beach lover, or looking for a gift for a special someone who is, a Current Clock could be the right job.  

Designs include Vico Baths, Seapoint, Forty Foot, Sandymount Strand, Portmarnock, Bull Wall, Dunmore East, Salthill/Blackrock, Belmullet and their universal ripple design. Each Current Clock can be set to track any tide in Ireland and comes with easy-to-follow instructions on how to set it correctly. Available to order for €65 on currentclock.ie.

We like this square ceramic vase from Penneys. 

Bring the garden inside with some of the season's last blooms for a pop of colour. €8 from stores nationwide. 

Casey's Furniture has some good reductions at the moment. We spotted this Heathfield Holburn dining table online, it's reduced from €1249 down to €999. 

With a solid oak base, black aluminium cross with spider-leg design, and 100% wood sourced from European forests, it means each table top is bespoke. See more instore in Cork and Limerick or at caseys.ie.

If you fancy adding a little boho twist to your interiors for September, Oxendales has this Flores kids rattan chair, on sale at the time of typing for €40.50. 

See oxendales.ie.

This one tickled our fancy this week — Cork in the style of Pablo Picasso! Using the AI tool Midjourney, you can see how Pablo Picasso may have envisioned the Irish landscape. 

Check out this rather unconventional interpretation of Cork showcasing Picasso’s cubist style "with a distorted yet captivating view of the city, where a distinctly Irish colour palette and abstract shapes intertwine, inviting the viewer to explore its winding allies, charming architecture and green fields". 

The gallery of images is commissioned by Explore Worldwide, showing how famous travel landscapes would have looked if they had been painted in the style of iconic artists throughout the centuries.  Also among the AI-generated imagery is how Frida Kahlo may have painted Toyko, how Mykonos in Greece would look in a Hokusai style and how Monet may have envisioned California. Find out more at exploreworldwide.com/blog/ai-artistic-destinations.

This dotie dog coat, €12, is part of the latest collection from Helen Steele, called Home Run. If you want to take your favourite mutt for a walk or run with you, get them decked out with their own gear. 

Find Home Run by Helen Steele in selected Dunnes Stores and at dunnesstores.com.

Pretty up a corner in your kitchen with these pastel beauties, all available in TK Maxx in stores nationwide and online at tkmaxx.ie.