‘We Are The Makers’is the central theme of the Ireland Pavilion’s Maker’s Gallery; a permanent, awe-inspiring exhibition curated by Lynn Scarff, Director of the National Museum of Ireland, featuring a diverse collection of art-work, sculptures and innovations from Ireland with an international impact.

The Maker’s Gallery, located to the left of The Courtyard inside the Pavilion, displays items from the realms of music, fashion, technology and art. Featuring pieces from innovators driven by a sense of endless possibility,the exhibition blends craft with tradition and function with creative design. The Maker’s Gallery derives input from the Irish Design and Crafts Council, Ireland’s national agency for the support and commercial development of the design & craft industry.

Relative to its size, Ireland has a significant contribution to the world’s creative and technological industries, demonstrated throughout the gallery. From fashion design to financial technology, Ireland’s creative talent has shaped many of the coveted designs and technology we know today. Born from a culture that fosters and promotes creativity as an expression of national identity, Ireland’s creative visionaries are trail-blazers driven by a world of endless possibilities, which can be seen in The Maker’s Gallery.

Design

 

Axiomilla II by Michael Rice

Michael Rice is an Irish artist currently living in the UAE. His sculptural works are created using a variety of materials, including stoneware clay, black porcelain and paper clay. Michael creates objects using both traditional and contemporary techniques: throwing clay to create 3D printed plaster moulds and cutting and bevelling on the wheel.

 

Balance in Blue by Cecilia Moore

Cecilia is a Dublin based Irish artist. Her work combines ‘raising’; an ancient silversmithing hammering technique with patination to form colourful, playful sculptural metal pieces. Cecilia works mostly with copper, bronze and occasionally silver in an art form she has spent years perfecting.

 

Fashion

 

The Maureen Sweater by Colin Burke

Colin Burke is an award-winning and internationally acclaimed Irish fashion designer and craftsman, who has redefined Irish knitwear with his range of contemporary luxury clothing which combines traditional Irish motifs and modern sensibilities. This hand-knitted sweater is made 100% Irish Heather wool, designed in the tradition of Irish Aran hand-knitting. This design is unique to the Aran Islands; a small collection of three islands located on Ireland’s West Coast. The jumper holds a structured outwear form created by directional hand crochet stitch combinations.

 

Feather Wreath by Jennifer Hickey

Jennifer’s work explores porcelain’s delicate and ethereal qualities using an intricate approach to creation. Her sculptures are created using thousands of tiny porcelain pieces, hand-sewn onto fine tulle. Integral to her finished pieces are the slowness and repetition of the making process.

 

Technology and Engineering

 

MED3DP by Bioengineering Students (Trinity College, Dublin)

Med3DP is creating a digital library of low-cost medical equipment for humanitarian healthcare, available for free download and ‘manufacture’ with a 3D printer. The initiative hosts a wide range of projects with ready-to-print files and documentation.

Every year, students in the MSc Bioengineering programme come together to brainstorm, prototype and develop 3D printable medical devices for the initiative. The objective is to deliver sustainable, valuable healthcare in the most challenging situations to those who need it most.

Trinity College Dublin bioengineering professors, Michael Monaghan and Conor Buckley, mentor the students in the project.

 

Torpey Bambú Hurley

Hurling is an ancient Irish sport renowned for breath-taking skill and speed, played by two teams of 15 with a hurley (stick) and sliotar (ball).  The hurley is traditionally made of wood from the Ash tree, which provides flexibility, strength and a natural feel. However, diseases such as Ash Dieback have hampered quality hurley production.The Torpey Bambú hurley is a 2021 IDI award winning sustainable innovation, designed, engineered and produced in Ireland using bamboo particles. It combines engineering and sustainability to produce a greater strength and strike consistency for players.

 

Lowden Sheeran Guitars

Designed, engineered and produced in Ireland, the Sheeran guitars by Lowden were born out of a friendship between international singer and songwriter, Ed Sheeran and luthier, George Lowden. They offer a musician a friendly sized guitar with great playability and tone.Lowden envisioned a range of affordable guitars with compromise on sound quality. By adapting hi-technology and aerospace manufacturing techniques, Lowden developed a unique system that produced quality guitars at a sufficiently high volume. The new system can produce in a day what would have taken weeks using traditional production methods.  Sheeran by Lowden has opened up a new global market for this 2021 Irish Times Innovation Award winning company.

 

STRIPE’s Young Scientist Award (Collison Brothers)

In 2005, the then 16-year-old Patrick Collison won Ireland’s Young Scientist award with a new computer language called Croma. Within a further three years, Patrick and his brother, John, had sold their first Silicon Valley company.  They were soon on their way to setting up what is now the global payments platform, Stripe.

The Collison brothers’ insight was that the web financial structure that underpinned the booming world of e-commerce was old and slow. The genius of Stripe was a software that allowed businesses to plug into websites and apps, to connect instantly with credit card and banking systems to receive payments.  In 2021, Stripe was valued at $95 billion.Patrick Collison says that ‘what you want to do is work on something meaningful and significant with people you really admire.’

For more information on The Maker’s Gallery and Ireland at Expo 2020 please visit: www.Ireland.ie/expo

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