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Thu, 28 Jul, 2022 - 08:05

Carol O’Callaghan

Lovers of crafted domestic wares, expertly and lovingly shaped by skilled makers, are in for the annual treat of Cork Craft Month during August, bringing together the best of Cork’s crafting and design traditions.

It is organised, as always, by Cork Craft & Design, a social enterprise and membership organisation set up to promote craft makers living in Cork city and county, whose operations manager Enid Conway says: “It’s all about amplifying craft, the story-telling involved and the makers, and we want people to get involved in a tactile way.”

Craft-making demonstrations and workshops take place throughout the month of August.

This means, in addition to an extensive programme of exhibitions and retail opportunities, there’s a line-up of workshops for the public to learn hands-on how to make pottery, engage in felting, learn bookbinding, and yarn dyeing, and find their inner artist with a chalk pastel drawing class, en plein air, weather permitting; or a spot of basketry and head modelling in clay.

Chances are, though, you’ve been reminded it’s all about to happen by a series of eye-catching billboards around the city commissioned from local illustrator Annie Mar. They include references to the various crafts involved as gaeilge, as part of a focus on the Irish language.

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Enid Conway, operations manager at Cork Craft & Design which runs Cork Craft Month.

“We’re doing Irish language events,” Enid explains. “Some workshops, demos and a guided tour of our flagship event will be in Irish. Our coordinator, Grace Claro, is a fluent Irish speaker and because Cork craft, and all craft, is really about storytelling and making items that respond to daily life and the environment here in Ireland, it has a kinship to our native language.”

In case you only have a cúpla focal, the Irish language events are open to all levels of Irish speaker, as Enid explains, “It’s an important way to celebrate the storytelling heritage we are connected to in a way that is organic today, and it’s all about learning and doing which is the appeal of starting any craft.”

An event to watch out for is Peadar Ó Riada’s workshop on August 20 at Chapel Hill School of Art in Macroom, where he’ll teach the ancient craft of skep basket-making using locally harvested mountain sedge grasses. These were originally used by bee-keepers before the advent of modern hives.

One of the main events of Cork Craft Month is the Emerge exhibition which takes place this year at The Gallery at No. 46 Grand Parade.

Back in the city, Seán O’Sullivan, owner of the impossibly cool bookbindery Badly Made Books, will host a workshop every Saturday throughout the month making books and stationery. Dare I say, early Christmas gifts shopping, anyone?

Continuing with the shopping theme, two Saturday retail opportunities to check out are the Douglas Woollen Mills’ Market on August 13, which is also home to Cork Craft & Design’s permanent shop for when you need something crafty the rest of the year.

And the following week, there’s the Made in Cork Market at St Peter’s Church, North Main Street. This repurposed church turned exhibition space has the bonus and well-kept secret of an outdoor walled café for the necessary shopping pitstop to enjoy coffee and cake.

Most of the events throughout the month are family-friendly, but a night time trip to The Roundy on Castle Street on August 16 has craft demonstrations and workshops from Cork Craft and Design makers, with spoken word poetry performances by Michael Ray and Rosie O’Regan, and a retro touch with 1960s vinyl records spun by Fionnbharr Reilly.

For wine and gin lovers who love to make a ceremony of serving their favourite tipple, Benchspace on Centre Park Road is the creative hub and go-to place in Cork to channel your inner wood crafting yearnings even if you’ve never trained before, and it’s where on August 20, they’re running a workshop on making a gin or wine valet out of locally sourced wood.

For the uninitiated, it’s a stand to hold your favourite tipple and crystal glasses.

For the showcase exhibition by Cork Craft & Design, visit the historic Old Mill in Castletownroche from August 5-8 where curator Julie Daunt presenting Lineage, an exhibition where the craft collective’s members show work exploring methods and memories of craft-making from the past.

It’s in contrast with the city-based Emerge exhibition at the Grand Parade Gallery, from August 4, where graduates of Cork-based art and design colleges show a range of new work from furniture to jewellery.