2023 RDS Craft Award Winners

Since 2018, an experienced judging panel of craft and design professionals select five emerging Irish craft makers every year to be awarded €10,000 each at a crucial formative stage in their careers. These five awards are for the development of business and craft skills for those pursuing a professional career in the sector. The award can be spent on further education and training, research, new work development, mentoring, equipment purchase, studio improvements, website and residencies. These winners have the opportunity to show their work to the public on a free stand (value €2,000) at Gifted - The Contemporary Craft & Design Fair which takes place annually in the RDS. In addition, each winner is offered 6 x hours targeted mentoring with a craft & design professional.


This year the winners are:

• Clodagh Molloy - Jeweller​

Clodagh is a jewellery designer, maker and tutor based in Dublin, Ireland. From her north Dublin studio, she creates contemporary jewellery using a mixture of traditional and modern techniques. In her jewellery art and design practice she has an ongoing project titled Shared Stories. In it, she is creating a body of work that examines and initiates dialogue around the subject of mental ill health. Addressing the stigmas and highlighting the strength needed to come through or live with a mental illness. She is continuously collecting stories and conversations resulting in a continuing evolution of my design practice. She plans to use her bursary money to further her practice in both the production of new design possibilities and the means to showcase these new body adornments to both a home and international audience.
 

• Ríon Hannora - Fashion Design

​Empowering the alternative fashion scene in Ireland and abroad is Cork-born Ríon Hannora. A breakthrough fashion designer, combining traditional methods of textile work with modern innovations to explore eco-friendly alternatives to fashion design by incorporating fabrics and materials that have already served their purpose. These fabrics are recycled and rejuvenated into bizarre and wonderful garments that could stand alone or on display in a museum. Her creations normally find themselves in the grey area between fine art and fashion, treating the body as an exhibition space, with each garment curated and styled to be a walking piece of art, creating an experience for both the garment and the wearer.
Ríon will use her bursary towards further education, research, equipment, as well as travel costs associated with her practice and development.
 

• Barry Todd - Furniture

Barry Todd is a furniture designer and maker based in Monaghan. He established Studio Kinnard in 2020, a workshop creating refreshing Irish design with a commitment to excellence in craft. He develops designs for unique high-quality hardwood furniture with a focus on clean lines and considered details. All his recent work has been an exploration of curves and carving to enhance woods' natural features. In every piece, he aims to craft simple expressive forms that are pleasing to the touch and comfortable to use. He will use his bursary money to dedicate time and material to the development of new work, as well as to increase production capacity for Studio Kinnard.
 

• Emer Roberts - Fine Art / Fine Jewellery

An edgy and elegant luxury fine-art jewellery brand, Emer Roberts Design’s aesthetic has evolved with Emer’s exploration of our fellow mammal - the rat. Her unusual, multi-award-winning Wearable Biology fine-art jewellery designs are the culmination of the artist’s exploration of this mammal species through various sculptural and mould-making processes over the last twelve years. An NCAD MFA in Fine Art Sculpture graduate, Emer gradually transitioned from a large-scale sculptural process to a luxury fine-art jewellery brand. She will use her bursary money to purchase professional studio equipment to further develop her mould-making, resin/metals casting and wax-working practice. She will also use it towards updating her website, and photography of her designs.
 

• Patrick Brennan - Bladesmith and Jeweller

Patrick Brennan is a bladesmith based in Co. Kilkenny. He is passionate about creating the highest quality and original designs that inspire awe, create conversation and pieces that can be passed down from generation to generation. By combining traditional techniques and processes such as forging, welding, casting and gem-setting he creates works of distinction that are renown internationally by knife smiths, jewellery designers and critics for its premium quality craftsmanship and artistry. He will use his bursary money towards equipment to further the development and expansion of the company.


 >> More info about the RDS Craft Awards