NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1980

LTD.

Thomas Prior House, Merrion Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 Telephone 01 680764

Annual Conference"Why Design?", the theme of the CraftsCouncil's Annual Conference was coveredin interesting depth by the panel ofspeakers. It was a pity that theattendance was less than at the twoprevious conferences as the quality of thepresentation was very high and, with asubject matter of this sort, the emphasiswas on the visual which cleverly under-lined the points being made, themselvesbeing telling ones.

Rising costs of the type of AnnualConference held for the past three yearsare an obvious deterrant, especially toyounger craftsmen and students. It is tothis group that the theme of the 1980Conference was primarily aimed, ratherthan to the participants who did attendand who were, in the main, full timeprofessionals who were fully aware ofmany of the points of discussion.

Serious consideration will be given todevise a change of format for the nextconference so that it will ensure not onlya continuance of the quality of thecontent but also be no discouragementto attracting those who can most benefitfrom this type of seminar.

Planning has already commenced insofaras an analysis of the various factors isconcerned and the aim will be to ensurethat both the format and the speakerswill be decided on at an early enoughdate in 1981 to be able to publicise bothfully and revitalise what is an importantoccasion for all craftsmen, not just theconverted.

The Chairman wishes all craftsmenand members a Happy Christmas

and a prosperous New Year

Helen Harvesty, Letterfrack, County Galway, Blanaid Reddin, Chairman, CraftsCouncil, Anne Mullins, Tuam, and Sean Me Lough I in, Chairman, Galway Associationof Craftworkers.

Chairman Opens ConferenceMiss Blanaid Reddin, Chairman of theCrafts Council of Ireland, speaking atthe opening reception, thanked theGalway Association of Craftworkers whowere the hosts. "This in fact is theopening of the Conference and I takethis opportunity to say how pleased weare to be in Galway finally. TheAssociation here have been asking fora conference in the west since our firstconference."

Miss Reddin went on to say that "while,perhaps, not the most densely populatedarea in terms of craftsmen, the fact thatthis important conference, with a themeessential to all craftsmen, is taking placein the west may encourage more crafts-men to settle here.

"There are developments in Roundstoneand in Letterfrack which are designed togive every facility to craftsmen and wehope that these will soon come tofruition and be a focal point for the west."

She mentioned also that the Council hadnow taken on a Crafts Officer whosemain task would be the closerco-operation between the Council andthe local associations, and the hope ofmaximising the potential of theAssociation members of the Council totheir benefit and the benefit of crafts-manship as a whole.

Craftsman has the Freedom to Innovate Speaking at the Annual Conference, "Why Design?", Mr Raymond Turner of Kilkenny Design Workshops said that as an industrial designer he designs things he cannot make. "I design things not only that I rannot make, but which I could not make if I tried; and I don't try. Yet, curiously enough, you are to blame for me. As a result of the nineteenth century revolution in technology and the population explosion, which together brought about mass production, the craftsman of yesterday evolved into the designer of today. " I t is a very big jump from the man who makes things to his own design, to the man who designs things for other people, and machines, to make. A lot must have been lost and forgotten on the way, so there is a great deal a designer could and should learn by going back to his beginnings; to craftsmanship. Equally there must be ways in which the craftsman can gain from the experience and new ways of thinking of the industrial designer."

The ultimate aim of good design he saw as improving living standards by utilising the.skilIs developed over the years. "There are five tests by which a product or system can be judged as having been designed well:

1. That what is designed should be appropriate for its purpose and use.

2. That materials and energy are used wisely.

3. That what is made fulfils a need rather than pampers to a want.

4. That they please our senses, most often sight, but also touch and hearing and sometimes even smell.

5. That they make economic sense, and can be produced at a price that is both desirable and achievable; not forgetting that their use and ultimate disposal must consume the minimum of energy and not degrade the ecological balance.

"Whan any of these five tests fail, whether the design is for a cathedral, an airport, an engagement ring or a tea cup, the result is bad design."

Mr Turner suggested that, while all this seems to make good sense, to judge by many of our products and environments, we don't care nearly enough about design.

"The media overflows with criticism of everything, except what is in continual use day in, day out. There are debates about paintings and books, plays and films, television and so forth; but surprisingly little critical appreciation of

products and environments.

"Where there is such appreciation, it is heavily concerned with fashions and aesthetics, and terribly little with the practicalities. This is illustrated by the many misleading newspaper reports on new cars and houses. There is nowhere to look at all for any objective criticism of more common artefacts like tea cups or pens.

"The result of this lack of interest is that the designer might well wonder where his first responsibility lies. To fashions? To profits? To the manufacturer who employs him? To the consumer who uses his product? Or, more remotely, to society perhaps?

"There are all too many designers who answer these questions badly, or who don't even listen to them at all. Designers whose whole life is concerned with unreality. They devise the useless to be made cheaply and easily, and which can be foisted on a public that is taught to want what it does not need at prices it cannot afford."

Mr Turner considered designers to have an enormous responsibility. They must select their commissions carefully; they must balance their considerations; they must not spend their lives exclusively in the pursuit of fashion and profits. Fashion can lead away from safety; profits for a manufacturer can mean losses to consumers. Different consider­ations are not necessarily incompatible, but to make them compatible can often demand a lot. This responsibility is multiplied a hundred thousand times by the sheer statistics of mass production. One mistake by one man at a drawing board can have inconceivable results.

"A craftsman is in many ways the opposite of a designer. Compared with serving many masters you, the craftsman, serve none at all but yourself and your customer. You use your hands and get to know your chosen material and technique as no designer ever can. You synthesise all the specialists in one: the planner, the designer, the market specialist. You are at once the managing director, accoun­tant and production line.

"You live with and love your materials, and your products are in a sense exten­sions of yourself. Your whole process of innovation and development and manu­facture is one. To analyse and breakdown the project elements, and responsibilities, as a designer must do, is probably incon­ceivable to you. Your job should be an

organic one, and it would be impossible to analyse all the influences, consider­ations and experience that make you what you are.

"What is more, the craftsman is much freer to experiment and to innovate than most designers. Perhaps in this the craftsman has the greatest advantage over the designer; in a potential for fun. The enjoyment you find in your materials and techniques is something that can be directly communicated through them. That is something terribly lacking in our age of mass production. And this is significant, because real innovation so often comes from the happy accident. Designers can brainstorm, and analyse, and discuss in committee, and pursue analogies until they are blue in the face, all the time coming up with improvements and short cuts and so forth, but nothing really new comes that way.

" I t is the man in the corner, quite unconcerned with problems and their solutions, but happily messing about with electric wires, or with wood, or clay, or whatever it is that turns him on, who invariably comes up with the great idea. And that is the way of the craftsman.

"What a pity it would be if he ever fell into the trap of simply emulating the designer and the mass-production techniques, having found a good thing, simply churned it out because it sold well. That, I suppose, must be the most dangerous trap the craftsman could fall into. Becoming a sort of inefficient version of the industries he competes with. Producing inferior things at superior prices, which he can command because of the very name "craftsman" to which he is being traitor. Finally, of course, his end is inevitable. Mechanisation beckons and he is just another industrialist and has lost the title craftsman for ever.

"Perhaps the only argument you have against doing this, or whatever the equiva­lent is in your trade, is that you enjoy what you do.

"You may produce this argument apologetically, but I would suggest that it is not only a very full and complete answer just for you, but also a good answer in the whole context of society. That enjoyment, that job, can communi­cate itself, and provide a dimension to the living of your customers and other people that would otherwise be lacking.

"Designers have potential for going right or going wrong. However many people he

works for, however stringent are the tech-nicalities that encumber his freedom, theultimate responsibility for the product isstill the designer's and his alone.

"I wonder if the craftsman is equallycapable of going wrong? The fact that heis so much freer, and that he commandsa respect in our society today, suggestthat he is definitely capable of goingwrong.

"I f you are to be relevant today, thenyou must accept the responsibilitiesthrust upon you by the very industriesand manufacturing processes I serve as adesigner. In a world where precision,suitability and utility can be bought fora few pence by the consumer from aproduction line, and more and moreoften aesthetic satisfaction too, thecraftsman will not survive long if hisproduct is not better in every way.

"I f the tea cup does not fit the saucer,if the jug pours badly, if the lid fallsoff the teapot when it is used, and abutter dish does not accommodate astandard pack of butter, or the woodenbowl twists because the moisture contentis too high- what then?

"Sooner or later the public will surelyask, 'Is it enough that this is handmade?'or 'If this is made with love, is it madewith enough love?' and finally, and mostdevastating of all, 'For what, after all, arewe paying over the odds?'

"Maybe you are serving aesthetics, butthat is only one point out of my fivetests for good design. The others, perhapsare tests of ethics and responsibility, butin the end one out of five is not enough.Five out of five is not going to be enoughto ensure your survival as industry andindustrial designers get better and betterat their jobs. There is every reason whyyou can and should score over the oddsagainst mass manufacturers.

"For me, designing is balancing con-siderations within a rigid framework ofdata; it is essentially problem-solving.And yet for me answers are notextraneous things. Design is not a qualitythat is added or applied to a product. Theright answers come implicit in thequestions, the solutions are to be foundin the problems. Implicit in the badlydesigned kettle, for example, is all thatis needed to design it well. For you,surely, this is much more tr je, for youare dealing immediately with things, notjuggling processes and data and massproduction considerations.

"You must be aware of the samequestions designers ask and be convincedof their importance. You must not only

solve them but do so with that flair,that flash of intuition and insight thatis the craftsman's stock in trade, and thatgrows from his mastery of materials. Youmust ask yourself is it right, necessary,and of the essence of your craft, thatwhat you produce should serve itsprimary purpose well, and adapt asperfectly as possible to the user; beeconomic in terms of materials andenergy used, have market appeal at theasking price and represent value formoney.

mm*

"If you can answer 'yes' to these questions Council/or Byrne; speaker. Sir Basilwithout reserve, then fulfilling them issomething that can be safely left in yourhands; literally in your hands. You haveonly to practise your skills to do so.

"I have touched upon what you and Ihave in common: the fundamentalimpulse from which all designers workand craftsmanship emanates. That is,the desire to better ourselves, toimprove our circumstances and achievemore secure, less arduous, morepleasant and rewarding lives.

"I have the potential to score five out offive of my tests of good design, but nevermore. You have it within your reach toscore more, and so to confront material-ism with its answer. You can producesomething better designed than anythingmy drawing board will ever see, or myclient's factory will ever produce.

"To ignore the design criteria we havediscussed is to suffer the consequencesof design by default. Designing well on aday-to-day level is, to me, the wholefulfilment in my career. But to you itmust be the minimum, the least that youmust achieve before you can begin to becraftsmen. To master your materials,yes that first; your techniques, of coursethat too; but no less fundamental to yourcareer and to the whole concept of thecraftsman's place in the community isthe fact that you must master practic-ality, appropriateness, suitability for themarket, utility, good economics andvalue."

Goulding BT; Miss Blanaid Reddin;Senator Justin Keating at theConference dinner.

Gunna Moller Strom-Olsson, Shane deBlacam, Patricia Duignan photographedat the Annual Conference.

Berbhin Masten, Peter Wolstenholme,Noelle Verling, John Murphy and AnnBreen photographed at the AnnualConference.

Design Difficult to Define Rudolf Heltzel was emphatic that the word "design" must be one of the vaguest most difficult to define words around. "Is it then any good to talk about design at all? I think it is, insofar as it can help to define our own view on the matter, which in turn will save us from detrac­tions, prejudice and resentments when encountering ideas diammetrically opposed to our own views.

"There seems to be agreement that design is a necessary and important item in the pot of various ingredients that determine the success and appreciation of any craftsman. But ask different craftspeople what they would consider as success and appreciation and the answers will put emphasis on very different goals, which means that design will have to be approached from widely different angles."

For the purpose of his talk, he stereo­typed craftspeople into two groups, both taken at their extremes. On the one side, the artist-craftsman; on the other, the market-oriented producer of craft items. For the first, design is self centred, aiming at within; for the latter, design is for the consumer, aiming at outward communi­cation. The design approach for these two groups can be worlds apart.

The artist-craftsman he saw as basically wanting to express himself in his work. He strives to use his chosen medium to develop his ideas, to translate his message into a communicable language. His designs are part of himself and they develop with his own personal develop­ment. He is delighted if he gets a response to his designs from other people, but he will do his thing even if he gets no appreciation, simply because he knows he is "right." His designs are the fruit of his intellectual and artistic develop­ment, and they first of all have to satisfy himself.

His designs will often develop at a far quicker pace than outsiders are able to follow. His material success is dependent on other people being willing and able to appreciate the expressions of his personality. He is lucky if his personality, as expressed in his works, is accessible and can be understood by outsiders; unlucky if his ideas run counter to prevailing attitudes.

At the other extreme, there is the crafts­man who is not concerned with his own ideas and personality. His designs are the result of his wish to have maximum communication with other people. He tries to determine what type of design would be appreciated by as wide a

variety of people as possible, the stimuli for design come from outside and he translates these into his medium. His designs will be concurrent to general trends and he will only change or modify them when he senses that attitudes are changing.

Very few craftsmen belong exclusively to one of these extremes. "Most of us are somewhere in between and I think it would benefit all of us to analyse where we stand and if that is the position we really want to be in. Once we know our position we shall be able to determine what factors must exert influence on our designs and these in turn will indicate how to go about selling our goods.

"I f we put ourselves in the centre position between the two mentioned extremes, we find that we have to con­sider a great number of factors that must influence design. The farther we move from this centre in either direction, the stronger the influence of certain factors will become. We have to consider our­selves, our mental capacity and manual ability. Do we enjoy the search for new designs and can we critically assess our own designs?

"How great is our proficiency in the craft, can we physically do what we would like to do, do we have consistency?

"We have to cope with the environmental pressures and influences, even tools and workshops. Restrictions are placed on us or freedoms given by raw materials and their costs, by processes to be employed.

"What effects have fashions, trends, prices, the economic climate, VAT rates on our designs?

"What groups of consumers are we aiming at, who could we imagine to buy our products? What type of income do we expect, how great are our overheads?

"All these things and probably a lot more must have an influence on our designs, like it or not, and most likely restrict and restrain us considerably."

Mr Heltzel said that every craftsman, no matter how extreme or commonplace his designs are, has a chance of success, provided he knows what he wants to do, can identify the group of consumers that most likely would appreciate and buy his products and then approaches this particular group of consumers in the right way. It is therefore untrue to say that the market is restricting freedom of design for the craftsman. It is the crafts­man himself who, by his own choice.

restricts himself to a certain section of the market.

"The artist-craftsman with his unique, advanced and personality-inspired designs may discover that the section of the market prepared to appreciate his designs is still smaller. Working here in Ireland he may find that there are only twenty, fifty or a hundred people with the means and appreciation to buy his work, which means that he can expect not more than maybe two, five or ten sales a year. If it is unlikely that he can survive on these few sales, he will have to sell abroad, where markets are bigger, or he will have to accept restrictions to his high flying design approach in order to appeal to a wider section of the market.

"The market orientated craftsman on the other hand may have been very diligent in his researches to discover what type of design his section of the market requires, only to find at the end that there are already fifty other producers who did exactly as he did and came to the same conclusions. Or he will find that he cannot produce at a cost acceptable to the market. He will be forced to modify his designs in order to stay competitive and achieve his aim.

"The situation most of us will repeatedly encounter during our lives as craftsmen is the situation where, because we do not get the deserved and necessary acknow­ledgement for our work, we shall have to change our designs to suit our particular section of the market, or find a new section that approves of our present designs. This requires constant alertness and open-mindedness of the craftsman.

"Design has to build a bridge between the craftsman and the buyer of his work, it has to translate the craftsman's thinking processes into understandable and acceptable products. There are a great variety of approaches open to the crafts­man—designer, but it is most important that each individual designer is aware of the approach he is taking and that he has figured out where it will take him to. Once he knows this, he has quite a lot of freedom, he only has to make sure he sticks to his route and stays within his chosen area."

The remaining papers presented at the Annual Conference will be printed in the next issue.

National Craft DesignCompetitionMore than 3,000,000 visitors come toKnock Shrine each year. This makesKnock one of the most intensivetourism areas in the country.

There is a natural inclination, especiallyon the part of overseas visitors, topurchase a souvenir of their pilgrimageto the Shrine and the souvenir businessgenerates very substantial sums of money.Most of this money currently goes toimported products—many of which arecheap and shoddy and certainly not inkeeping with the dignity of the Shrine.

The National Craft Design Competition,being run under the auspices of the IrishCraft Centre, Knock and the MayoCounty Development Team, aims toutilise this existing market to generatejobs within the county. At the same time,it is hoped to be able to make availableto pilgrims an indigenous product ofgood quality and design at a reasonableprice. It is felt that pilgrims will welcomethe opportunity to buy a product madein the village of Knock itself.

It is intended to establish a cluster unitof craft workshops in Knock which willbe made available to suitably qualifiedcrafts people.

The competition itself is national inscope and carries a total prize fund of£3,500. The designs submitted should becapable of volume production by Irishcraftsmen and craft based industries inIreland.

There is a first prize of £1,000 for thebest overall design and a further £1,000for the best religious gift. Other prizesrelate to designs submitted by students,designers living in Gaeltacht areas andthe design of a product which can bemarketed for £5 or less.

Allied Irish Banks Limited are the mainsponsors of the competition and theother sponsors are listed on the accom-panying entry form.

Mayo Industrial EnterpriseAwardsThe Mayo Chapters of Junior Chamber ofIreland, namely Ballina, Ballinrobe,Ballyhaunis, Castlebar, Claremorris andWestport, are organising a £2,450 AwardsScheme to foster new industrial enter-prise in the county. The Scheme,sponsored by Mayo County Development

Inlaid porcelain bowl by Leslie Reed

Lidded jar by Peter Wolstenholme

Team, the Bank of Ireland and Udaras naGaeltachta, was officially launched inCastlebar by Mr Raphael Burke TD,Minister of State at the Department ofIndustry, Commerce and Tourism, on29 September 1980.

The top award of £1,000 will be made tothe individual who submits the bestproposal for a new manufacturing enter-prise; £500 will be awarded to the runner-up and there will be a third prize of £250.

In addition, the best entry submitted byan individual born in, or resident inCounty Mayo will receive an award of£200.

Beidh duais speisialta de £500 do dhuinea bhfuil conai ais sa Ghaeltacht achuireann an iontrail is fearr ar fail.

Details and entry form from MayoCounty Development Team. Fullproposal by 28 February 1981.

Potter is WCC PresidentAll potters and, indeed, craftsmen ingeneral will be pleased to hear that MareaGazzard was recently elected Presidentof the World Crafts Council.

She first represented Australia in theWCC interests at the General Assemblyin Peru in 1968 and has been VicePresident for Asia for ten years. Herwork as an artist/craftsman is well knownin Australia and her creative ceramicforms are in many museums there as wellas in collections elsewhere in the world.

In her acceptance speech, she said ofWCC, and this relates to all craftorganisations, "we have limited resourcesof finance but we have an unlimitedsource of people with great talents. Let usput this great wealth of talent to gooduse at national, regional and world level."

Craft Workshop Potentialat NewmarketNewmarket, Co Cork, is named AthTrasna, meaning "a way across." TheIrish name is apt because it is a beautifulvillage that crosses many ways of life.The village has a population of 10,978 inits catchment area.

The local development association isbringing a new drive to bear in Newmarketand they have plans for small factoryunits serviced by a central communi-cations complex so that the smallbusiness person will be provided withexport marketing and back-up facilities.Newmarket planning developmentalready has buildings available, suitablefor craftworkers, with a layout not unlikethat at Ballycasey near Shannon, with acourtyard around a main building. Theinstallation of the new telephoneexchange will add to the communicationnetwork of major roads to outlets suchas Cork and Mallow to the south,Limerick and Shannon to the north, andTralee and Killamey to the west. Thedevelopment will also include an adulteducation-cum-training centre, thusraising the skills' level of the local peoplewho are keen to be involved in smallindustries.

New housing is being provided by theRegional Housing Authority.

Enquiries for craft workshops should bemade to John Roche, County Councilmember, at Clough, Rockchapel, CountyCork.

From the Exhibition "Ceramics and Silks'

Exhibition:Ceramics and SilksAdrienne Crowe and Pat Douglas showedarrangements of silk flowers in studiostoneware at the Trinity Arts Gallery,20 College Lane, from 17 to 29November.

This is the first time that art of flowerarranging has been combined withskilled studio stoneware. Usually no showof flowers can last long enough for anexhibition, owing to the rapiddeterioration of cut flowers. The problemhas been overcome by the use ofmagnificent everlasting silk flowers.

Adrienne Crowe is a potter who also hasa great love for the garden and the growthof plants. For a long time, she has wishedto make a series of vases with uniquequalities for an exhibition but the ideawas near to impossible to achieve becauseof the extreme brevity necessitated by ashow of fresh flowers. Hence her delightwhen she made the acquaintance of PatDouglas. She immediately suggested anexhibition.

The flowers were placed to show off bothvase and arrangement to their bestadvantage and the result was original andsuccessful.

Craf tmen ReceiveTechnology CertificatesThe completion of the first Pottery andCeramics Technology Programme to beheld in this country was marked by thepresentation of certificates to theparticipants at a ceremony in the HeadOffice of AnCO, the Industrial TrainingAuthority, on 29 October.

Mr Brendan Daly TD, Minister of State atthe Department of Labour and the PublicService, presented certificates to thetwenty-seven participants.

The year-long programme which was heldin the National Institute for HigherEducation, Limerick, is a foundationcourse for existing craft potters as well asmanagers in industrial potteries.

A survey of the training needs of thepottery industry was completed by theTraining Advisory Staff of the ChemicalSection of AnCO in 1979. The course inLimerick was a direct response to thecritical shortfall which the surveyrevealed in the level of technicalexpertise in both the industrial andcraft sectors.

Mr Daly said that more up-market anddistinctively Irish designs and productswere needed if the present touristdemand for hand-made pottery was tobe met.

The Limerick course is the first inIreland to deal exclusively with thetechnological aspects of potteryproduction. The programme is alsounique in that it is the first time inEurope that craft and industrialparticipants have been integrated onsuch a course.

He said that it was AnCO's intention toexamine the results of the present coursewith a view to extending its activities intothe highly important area of training inceramic technology.

Craftsmen who received certificates were:Jeremy and Pauline Tyndale-Briscoe,Adrienne Crowe, Patricia Howard, PaulMartin, Radley Searle and Patrick Westonand "apprentices" who also completedthe course were Helen Ahearne and EoinMellet, working with the Forristers inBandon; Elizabeth Corcoran, workingwith the Searles; Gary Dickson, whoworks with Stoneware Jackson; BrianKeogh of the Geoffrey Healy Pottery;Margaret Lucas from Aherla Pottery;Yvonne O'Neill and Una Timmins fromEnniskerry Pottery.