An Open Book

 This week my first book was published and delighted is a word that has been well and truly worn out here! I have had the busiest year of my life and to have published a book in that period is completely fabulous and totally unplanned and unexpected. I am currently working on some new printed cotton and linen products using illustrations from the book. Watch this space for new work and more news....

Rua Red - Tallaght, Dublin

Delighted to have been commissioned to install three big printed panels in the Rua Red café to help create separation between dining areas in the space. Rua Red is an Arts centre in Tallaght, Dublin. The café space is on the main street right at the end of the Luas line. I can highly recommend a trip out there as they have a great programme of events and exhibitions for the coming 6 months.

I am also busy working on a few other exciting projects including a collaboration on some new cards with Elena, a Catalan printmaking student who runs a little business of her own which she calls ETZA - I will post some pictures very soon of what we have been working on together. It has been very nice to work along with someone for a change - we are working in Belfast Print Workshop and it might get messy this week when the paint comes out!

Easter in Dublin..

That's my best side - a bit blurry and less puffed eye than the other one!

 We went on a little jaunt to Dublin last week to do some 'business' related things. One of those things involved me having my photograph taken . For someone who doesn't particularly enjoy having my picture taken, to wake up on the morning of the photograph appointment with conjunctivitis!!!!!Ahhhh! Couldn't believe it - had to run like a mad thing and buy eye drops, which then only made the puffy eyes puffier...let's just say it was not the most glamorous of morning's!

 Above is a picture my daughter Patti took later that day outside Article, one of my favourite stockist's. The shop is well stocked with all kind's of grown up loveliness - my products aside(!)

On a positive note though, Dublin was looking great in the bright blue sunshine and we made the most of a couple of crystal clear days to wander the streets and tick off the To Do boxes. Places to eat in the city have improved so much since Pete (my husband) and I lived there in 1997/1998. We ate in The Chop House a mere skip from our old flat and must say that for a steakhouse/pub they were more than delighted for us to bring the kids in, their steaks are fantastic. We meandered through a few old haunts and shortcuts in and around our old neighbourhood and came across this property, looking really rather dandy in the spring sunshine. Springlawn was the name on the gate and clearly the owners prepare each year for the house to live up to its promise, the lawns looked perfectly springy with all those daffodils.

A Dublin house with a very appropriate name "Springlawn"

We also popped over to the RHA to have a look at the current exhibition and say 'hello' to The Irish Design Shop's Clare and Laura. The exhibition did frighten the bejesus out of the kids, I think the naked lady hulahooping with barbed wire was an eye opener...The Irish Design Shop is for sure one of Dublins best curated stores, the new Drury St space is I am sure going to be a total treat, exciting for them.

Not a million miles away...

I had a look through the 'archive', i.e. the box with things I have kept as originals, trials and just because I am not great at throwing things out....(this is new by the way, I used to be excellent at dumping stuff - I have no idea where this hoarding affliction has sprung from, it is causing storage/marital problems). I found a few things and arranged them with new, current work and realised there has been loads of progress...but also the older stuff is ok, I wouldn't ressurect it and do it again, but equally, i'm not going to throw it out!! Can you spot the old stuff?

I am very excited about the next few months, I have a few huge announcements to make (well huge for me, they won't go viral or anything!), about new designs, products, partners, stockists and well life really! More to follow.....

Nua Nua Nua

Nua - New in Irish. All new here. New products, all we need are some new product photos to share.....they won't be long, we were waiting for the rain to stop to get some good light for pictures.

The most exciting nua news is stockists, new stockists. We will update the list on the website very soon.

Nua....I feel a nua design coming on....

New Year -New Look

Ah if only it were me that got the new look! Well I did, but it wasn't quite what I wanted - eye bags, dark circles, unruly hair.....however.

The website in English is finally here, just translating now and the Irish version will be up and running soon too. Over the Christmas 'holidays' (i.e. everyone else is off so can work like a Clydesdale horse in the knowledge that the phone ain't gonna ring), I had a bit of an overhaul!

www.placed.ie is now live and the etsy shop got a new shop sign too. I am working hard getting ready for Showcase Ireland later this month where I will be launching new work - here's a sneak peek. All will be revealed on the 19th Jan.

Super tea towel moment!

So on opening the drawer of this very lovely 'press' as my grandmother would have called it, I smiled. Yes I had put the tea towels in the press so it should have been no surprise when I opened it, however it made my heart sing a little. I don't very often put my products into other peoples furniture, but this was a holiday property we were recently staying in and I had brought some work with me for a bit of a photo shoot, I couldn't resist filling the drawer with my tea towels,closing the drawer and then opening it again! I decided then to go a step further and take a photo, and even now it still makes me very happy.

Tea towels have always made me very happy - it could be something to do with my mothers tender care of her tea towels, she ironed them and folded them neatly and kept them in a drawer, and there were always clean, pressed tea towels ready for use in that same drawer. To open a drawer full of tea towels I designed and printed myself was just a super wee moment, and to know that all over the world these same tea towels are in a few other peoples drawers makes it super duper!