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

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