The new six-part series Craft Master, marking the Year of Craft 2011, sees three apprentices battle it out for a place at Showcase, the international show for Irish craftspeople and their wares. Paddy Kehoe talks to presenter, Sonya Lennon.
Down through the years, craft and design have always had pride of place in the RTÉ schedules. The Late Late Show has always been a regular shop window for the best of Irish workmanship, while Nationwide regularly visits craft-workers in their homes and workplaces.
When a celebrated series like Hands gets an airing from the archives, rest assured there is a ready audience, fascinated by the way artefacts were made 30 odd years ago. Hands – 37 prize-winning documentaries about Irish crafts – made by David and Sally Shaw-Smith.
Sonya Lennon, presenter of the new six-part series Craft Master has of course seen Hands, which she says gently and tactfully was “of its time.” The new series, she says, is about the contemporary angle. “There has been a tradition of seeing craft as a twee, sort of diddly-aye pursuit”, she suggests, “tagging the word ‘craft’ on to stuff that isn’t necessarily even handmade. Now people are completely reassessing what they consider valuable. It’s no longer the brightest or shiniest thing, it’s actually about something that you can find meaning in. I get very excited about the fact that one person has made this for another. It’s about an emotional connection and I think you can only get that if something is handmade.” As an example, she mentions one of the apprentices in the first programme (glass-making), Aoife May Soden, who grew up in Australia. “Her work is evocative of the colours and the mood of that upbringing. Somebody else was deeply inspired by the sea, which is always a recurring theme – we’re an island nation, so we can’t escape it.”
The glass-blowers, weavers, potters, wood-turners and blacksmith apprentices in the five programmes – each programme deals with a specific craft – come from all walks of life. There is an Ikea employee, a finance worker, an organic farmer, a cabinet-maker, a student/waitress, a man who is unemployed, a house husband, a worker in the legal system. Some are absolute novices. “The more focused among the apprentices were doing what they were supposed to be doing – developing a prototype which could become a marketable product.”
The first show features three apprentice glass-blowers working in a so-called ‘hotshop,’ set up by former Waterford Crystal Employees. As is the case with all the crafts involved, there is a mentor guiding the participants towards their dream and in this instance the competitors realise their concepts in hot molten glass heated to over 1,000°C. Mentor Róisín de Buitléar had taught her three charges a seven-day masterclass course prior to their adventures in glass-shaping. “There was quite a camaraderie among each group, some more so than others”, observes Sonya, who recently joined the board of the Craft Council of Ireland. “In the hot glass studio they had to work together, because of the weight of the glass and the length of the poles, the sheer physical work involved. As in the metalwork programme, they had to help each other, they had no choice.”
The sixth and final programme will crown one of the final five apprentices – one from each craft – Craft Master 2011. The winner will be given a stand at Showcase, the international trade show for Irish producers, and will be offered mentoring and guidance through the Craft Council of Ireland.
With an average of more than €22 million in sales orders per year, Showcase, which takes place annually in the RDS in Dublin, is a invaluable platform for people involved in craft and design in Ireland. More than 5,500 retail buyers from Ireland and over 17 countries around the world, including North America, continental Europe and Japan, are represented at the event, seek out the best of Irish fashion, jewellery, giftware, etc.
The craft industry last year was worth €498m to the Irish economy and the sector employs 5,771 people, with domestic sales of €373.5m and exports worth over €124.5m. There is reported potential for employment to increase to over 7,500, with domestic sales and exports capable of growing to €527.6m and €175.8m respectively. So winning the Craft Master crown is not necessarily just about self-fulfilment – there are real careers in the making here.
Paddy Kehoe
