Cataloguing the Kilkenny Design Workshops Archive

NIVAL began cataloguing the very extensive KDW Archive in 2009 with the aim of creating an online finding-aid for the collection. At present this is a text-based catalogue but plans are underway to digitise a representative collection of the photographic documentation and to connect these with the paper records.

NIVAL’s target audience is inclusive and encompasses anyone with an interest in KDW and design in Ireland including third and fourth level researchers, academics, artists and designers, arts administrators, librarians and archivists, and the general public.  With the development of web resources and online databases, NIVAL is increasingly able to satisfy users’ needs remotely, reaching a wider national and international audience.

KDW cataloguing project, Phase 1

In 2009, NIVAL began Phase I of the project with an appraisal of the KDW Archive, donated to the library by the Crafts Council of Ireland.  The archive includes c.40 volumes of press material, 26 volumes of record sheets, and 10,000’s of photographic images documenting the craft and design products developed by the Workshops between 1963 and 1988.  The appraisal involved the establishment of a project plan for managing the collection in several distinct but related stages, and the identification of logical archival series within the collection.  This phase of the project was aided by a research grant from the Design History Society, U.K, and by funding from the national College of Art and Design, Dublin.

Phase 2 KDW cataloguing

Foreground - Theresa Reilly, MA Intern, background - Dr Una Walker

KDW cataloguing project, Phase 2

Phase 2 of the KDW project, entitled the Photographic Image Management Project, began in March 2010.  Funded by the Heritage Council and the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), the aim of Phase 2 was to arrange, catalogue and preserve the unique collection of 10,000’s of photographic images produced by the KDW as both a promotional tool and documentary record of the work undertaken by the Workshops over their 25 year history.  Phase 2 was concerned only with the photographic material for which there exists some form of text-based documentation that aids in the identification of the images. 

The project was been carried out by NIVAL in collaboration with students on the MA in Design History and Material Culture programme at NCAD.  Dr. Una Walker, Postdoctoral Researcher at NIVAL, managed the project with the assistance of Donna Romano, NIVAL Administrator.  The project team included Seamus Gilna, Senior Cataloguer; Katie Blackwood, Roisin Sheridan and Renata Pekowska, NIVAL Assistants; Robert Bridge, NCAD I.T. Support; and seven postgraduate student volunteers.

Phase 3 KDW cataloguing

Katie Blackwood, NIVAL, preparing to input data on the KDW press clippings

KDW cataloguing project, Phase 3 - Overview

 June – to October 2011

 The aims of Phase 3 of the project are to catalogue

• 34 volumes of KDW press and publicity material to series and file levels
• 26 volumes of KDW record sheets which provide the most complete documentation available of all design jobs undertaken by KDW to series and file levels
• the photographic material for which no documentation exists (an estimated 600 files) to series and file levels

and

• to input the records to the web-based database which has been developed using a relational database based on ISAD(G) elements of description.

Cataloguing the KDW Archive is still underway but a sneak preview can be had on

http://www.nival.ie/collections/collections/collection/archive/kilkenny-design-workshop/view/collection/  

Welcome to the NIVAL Kilkenny Design Workshops blog

IQ Lamp: Designer: Holger Strøm, 1972 

NIVAL reference code: IE/NIVAL/KDW/ID/

The Kilkenny Design Workshops were founded in 1963 by Córas Tráchtála, the Irish Export Board, in a radical move which in effect established a state-sponsored design consultancy aimed at improving the design of Irish products and thereby increase exports. Córas Tráchtála had been concerned with design, packaging and marketing since its inception in 1951 and as part of the national programme for economic growth full responsibility for design in industry was transferred from the Arts Council to the newly reconstituted Córas Tráchtála in 1960.

Under the leadership of William H. Walsh the former stables at Kilkenny Castle were acquired and converted, opening in 1965 with five workshops - silver and metalwork, textile weaving, textile printing, ceramics, and woodworking. Designers from across Europe were employed as lead designers and mentors, producing prototypes which were offered on a royalty basis to industry.

Kilkenny Design Workshops Design Team, circa 1965

Left to right: Max Andersen, (Workmaster Silver/Metal Workshop); Holger Strom, Packaging; Jim Kirkwood, Ceramics; Gerald Tyler, General 3D Design; Jenny Trigwell, Textile Designer; James King, General Manager; Damien Harrington, Graphics; Oisin Kelly; W. H. Walsh, KDW Chairman
NIVAL reference code: IE/NIVAL/KDW/PL/03/1

Initially the emphasis was on craft-based industries but over time the workshops expanded to include industrial and product design. KDW provided an interdisciplinary environment for individual designers who produced designs for goods using various materials and techniques, and for different market segments.  Throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s KDW moved more overtly into the area industrial design.

In addition to the objective of improving the design of Irish products KDW also had an educational role. KDW organised exhibitions which celebrated traditional Irish crafts, e.g. patchwork, which were toured in Ireland and Europe. In the late 1970s KDW instigated a designer development training scheme providing twelve recent graduates annually from the country’s art schools with a six-month residential placement at the workshops. Schools competitions and annual design awards also offered opportunities for aspiring designers. KDW made access to good design available to the public through its retail outlets – the first KDW shop opened in Kilkenny in 1966, a second was opened in Dublin in 1976. These shops stocked examples of the craft-based products designed by KDW and also goods produced by other Irish craftspeople and manufacturers. The Dublin shop included an exhibition space which hosted design related events open to the public.

In the mid-1980s KDW instituted an economic plan aimed at making the organisation totally self-sufficient. One component of this involved increasing income from the retail part of the business and partly to this end a KDW shop was opened in Bond Street in London. Unfortunately a drop in retail income combined with the effects of the recession led to financial difficulties and in 1988 state support was withdrawn and KDW ceased operation. The London shop was closed and the shop premises in Kilkenny and Dublin sold to cover debts.

Entrance to the Kilkenny Shop in Bond Street, London, 1986

NIVAL reference code: IE/NIVAL/KDW/NP/61

The Kilkenny Design Workshops Archive was donated to the National Irish Visual Arts Library by the Crafts Council of Ireland in 2001.  The material was given to NIVAL with the understanding that the collection would be made available to the public for research purposes and, depending upon funding, the collection would be catalogued to an institutional standard.

NIVAL has been engaged in a phased project to catalogue this extensive collection with financial help from the Heritage Council, the National College of Art and Design, the Design History Society (UK) and the Arts Council since 2009.

To view further images from the KDW Archive see the NIVAL Facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.267017819977702.77692.100000084588282&l=3378b752b3&type=1