Start-up for young designers

DESIGN:Arthur Duff and Greg Tisdall are giving young Irish furniture designers a platform to show and sell their work

EETING ARTHUR DUFF on a bright April evening would put the spring in anyone's step. He has just come from looking at Meetings with Remarkable Trees,the exhibition of Thomas Packenham's photographs at the Molesworth Gallery in Dublin, and watched a vibrant protest outside the Dáil, and says both cleared his mind of the prevailing gloom and doom. "All that was missing was a good salsa band outside the Dáil – it would have boosted the public spirit," he says.

Duff and Greg Tisdall have been to the fore of Irish furniture design for the past 20 years and their latest, recession-defying enterprise hopes to highlight the work of resident designers and associates of The Malthouse in Dublin’s North Circular Road.

They have reconfigured their studios, showroom and workshop to provide mentored start-up space for young designers. At the moment there are 10 housed in the centre and they have ambitious plans to increase the number fourfold in the next two years.

“All too often designers complain that there is no work or demand for their services. What our new exhibition will show is that there is a wealth of creative young designers who have not given up trying to make a living just because the economy has given up on them. In the space of two months, the designers have come up with more than 20 products for less than €200 (some under €80).

“We’re hoping the centre will become a focus for young creative talent,” says Duff. “Eventually, we also want to provide a dedicated space for young fashion designers.”

The Bang For Bucksexhibition opens next Thursday, April 20th at Duff-Tisdall Architecture, at The Malthouse, 537 North Circular Road, Dublin 1, tel: 01-8558070.

See themalthousedesigncentre.com.

Meanwhile don’t forget to look into the Pop Up Shop in the Royal Hibernian Academy in Ely Place, Dublin 2 where every two weeks, new creative work goes on display.

We were hugely impressed by the handsome furniture designed by David Larkin of Kooyong Design, and, as it happens, he hopes to show his work in the Malthouse, too. Very snazzy.