Cooley legend inspired designer to launch range

WORKING at home as a textile designer suits Bernadette McCullagh to a tee, including the tea towels and T shirts which are among her Dúinn Design range of products inspired by local folklore stores.

‘As a textile designer of old, graduating from Leeds University many moons ago, I have always held a passion for patterns and colours,’ she says,

However, she graduated at the wrong time, just as Britain’s proud textile tradition lost out to cheap imports from abroad.

‘ There were no jobs so I had to retrain and ended up working in sales and marketing branding, but there was always a design element to it,’ she recalls.

She relocated to Carlingford with her husband, a Forkhill native, as they sought a seaside location within commuting distance from Dublin.

‘We were both working in Dublin and knew we wanted to live along the coast, but the property boom was pushing prices beyond our reach, so we slowly made our way up the coast to Carlingford, which my husband knew from old.’

They bought a house just outside the village, and Bernadette now works home, having commuted for many years.

‘We have two children, a seven and an eleven year old, so it’s ideal being able to work from home.’

And it was her daughter’s excitement, coming home from school one evening talking about The Tain and the Brown Bull of Cooley, which ignited the flame of her artistic roots. ‘SHE was so full of the story that it got me thinking about the many great myths and legends and stories of Ireland,’ says Bernadette.

‘A photograph of a local bronze statue of the Brown Bull followed by an illustration became a simple pattern that started Dúinn Designs,’ she recalls.

The range includes beautiful silk scarves and cotton T-shirts, as well as a homeware range, which features these same vibrant patterns on tea towels, aprons, and oven gloves.

Inspired by the wealth of Irish legends and folk lore, the range features images of the famous Brown Bull, St Brigid’s Cross and other iconic Celtic motifs.

This was Bernadette’s second year on the Louth Enterprise stand at Showcase and she was delighted with the opportunity to show her work to buyers from all over Ireland and overseas.

‘Showcase is a very important part of a craft person’s year,’ she says.

‘It’s absolutely fantastic because as a person starting out, it would be very expensive to take a stand as a sole trader and this allows you to share a stand with other makers and gives you the opportunity to bring our work into the public domain.’

She received many orders as a result of taking part in last year’s event and is following up on contacts made this year.