Playing With Tradition

Dublin Castle, Dublin, 2015

'Playing with Tradition' was presented by The Office of Public Works in the Georgian Rooms of the State Apartments, Dublin Castle. The exhibition encompassed furniture, sculptural objects, tableware, clothing and accessories. Each piece in the exhibition has its roots in traditional design and high quality craftmanship, with a twist which makes it contemporary. The participants are Irish and international designers; Philip Treacy, Gaetano Pesce and Marianna Kennedy are among the participants.

 Some themes of the exhibition were: the use of high quality materials/manufacturing excellence. Often pieces - though part of a production- are hand-finished such as Alessandro Mendini's 'Proust Geometric' chair, Donatella Pellini's jewellery, Marianna Kennedy's lamps, Richard Gorman's Hermès scarf, Kyoko Wainai’s bags, Arthur Duff's console, James' Howett and Nuala Goodman's Irish chair. Labour intensive pieces which are labors of love- Helen Cody's dresses, Lisa Farmer's leather vessels. Use of technology which can be found in Nigel Atkinson's rubberbacked velvet fabrics, Paolo Giordano's resin screen, Una Burke's leather costumes, Jacopo Foggini's resin light fixture. Third generation continuing a tradition. We see De Vecchi's grandson revisiting the silver candlestick which won design prizes in 1947 covering it with plastic hosing, Jarmila Mucha Plockova making jewellery designed by her grandfather (the famous illustrator Mucha, who is thought to have inspired  the Art Nouveau movement.), Donatella Pellini's jewellery laboratory which was begun by her grandmother, Jacopo Foggini experimenting with resin in his father's factory which produced car parts. Reviving tradition/ keeping a flame alive. In Ireland there is the J Hill Standard company who are trying to revive a centuries old tradition of glass blowing and crystal cutting, they've also founded a school where older masters teach the next generation. Lastly it is apparent that there is a joy in the act of creating evident in all these artist's work, in particular in Richard Gorman's, Mendini's and Gaetano Pesce's.

Playing with Tradition was a series of installations in four Georgian Rooms adjacent to the State Apartments. Attached to the exhibition is a Temporary Shop featuring each designer/ artists' work, these were on sale.

 Curated by: Mary Heffernan,  Historic Properties OPW & Curator, and Nuala Goodman, Artist / Curator.

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