2015 Year of Irish Design - Aileesh Carew

In the first of a new series, Aileesh Carew introduces the Year of Irish Design and its importance for tourism.

2015 has been designated as the year of Irish design. Irish Design 2015 (ID2015) is a year-long programme which will promote and celebrate Irish design in all forms. It is an all-island initiative and will showcase the best of Irish design at home and abroad through events and exhibitions.

Design is increasingly important in tourism – it creates a sense of place – just think of Titanic Belfast, Samuel Beckett Bridge, the Aviva Stadium, it creates heritage – some of the beautiful Irish designed crafts purchased here on holiday will become family heirlooms and beautiful mementos of holidays spent in Ireland.

Design can have a far reaching impact on business, e.g. using interior design to create the visitor experience – think Inis Meáin Restaurant and Suites – an elemental travel experience, where every single detail is inspired by the island.

Design plays a big part in creating identity – from branding, communications, animation and guest experience design – check out the wonderful (and award winning) new brochures for Ballymaloe Cookery School – a work of art – just like the place itself.

You can immerse yourself in Irish Design as soon as you land at Dublin Airport - Design Island, a year-long photographic exhibition at Dublin Airport, celebrates the breadth of Irish creativity. In it, Irish photographer Peter Rowen captures 24 designers at work in their studios around Ireland.

Other highlights of the programme include:

The Coach House at Dublin Castle is a design hub for ID2015, showcasing Irish and international design exhibitions from partners including Design Museum London and Vitra Design Museum, Germany.

Irish Design 2015, in partnership with IBM are developing an app to bring the best of Irish Design to people exploring the island of Ireland. The app full be full of great recommendations from the design community of what to see and do in Ireland from a design perspective and will be launched in March.

Portfolio at Soloman – a beautiful gallery in the Westbury Mall showcasing the best of Irish ceramics, glass, jewelry and furniture throughout the year.

A “Celebrate Your Local Design Hero” initiative will encourage local libraries to celebrate designers from their local area through events, workshops or mini festivals.

A design innovation fund will see the initiation of a diverse range of projects such as workshops, conferences and events which will have a strategic impact on the development of supports for design companies and SMEs across the island of Ireland.

The work of Irish designers will be presented at international events such as Milan and Dutch Design Weeks, London Festival of Architecture, London and Paris Fashion Weeks, London Design Festival, Chicago Architecture Biennial and Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture in Hong Kong/Shenzhen

Design Challenges will take place during the year where Irish designers will work with communities to develop solutions to design needs or opportunities for improvement

Many tourism businesses are already seeing the benefit of good design and we hope the Year of Irish Design will foster this dialogue and engagement with design and designers.

ID2015 is delighted that the inaugural Irish Tourism Industry Awards have included a special award to highlight good design in Tourism. For more information www.irishtourismindustryawards.ie/categories/

Irish Design 2015 partners include Founding Partner - MCO Projects; Accommodation Partner - The Doyle Collection; Venue Partner - OPW; Exhibition Partners – DAA. Technology Partner - IBM

An overview of the core programme of events can be found at www.irishdesign2015.ie
 

Aileesh Carew is the Tourism Advisor for Irish Design 2015. Her role is to provide advice and management of the tourism programme for the year of Irish design 2015, to communicate and animate interest in the Year of Design – nationally & internationally - and engage with tourism industry partners to raise awareness for Irish Design 2015. She has spent most of her career managing hotels, most recently opening Ballyfin Demesne in Co Laois, putting it on the international map as one of the best small hotels in Europe. A graduate of Shannon College of Hotel Management, with an MBA from Copenhagen Business School and Business Management Coaching from Scandinavian Leadership, she loves to travel, read cookery books, occasionally cooking from them, eat out and spend time with her family.

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