MARY BLANCHFIELD CEO, DESIGN & CRAFTS COUNCIL IRELAND
We in Ireland are lucky enough to be part of a cultural heritage that is steeped in tradition, in storytelling, and in creativity that is borne of the land, of the community, and of generations who have passed down skills through the ages. On behalf of Design & Crafts Council Ireland and the designer makers we advocate for, I am delighted to be able to bring our fifth consecutive exhibition to Collect at Somerset House.
Though creativity is woven into the fabric of our small island, Collect presents an inimitable portal to international audiences for the master craftspeople we represent. ‘Four Seasons’ is a joyous, invigorating exhibition of technically and aesthetically accomplished pieces that reflect the vitality of Irish contemporary craft practice. I hope that it offers visitors a strong sense of place, and inspires you to further explore the breadth of creativity that can be found on our shores.
I would like to thank Julia Ravenscroft, curator of Four Seasons; Natalie Melton and TF Chan, and the teams at Crafts Council UK and Somerset House, and of course the 16 makers who have pushed the boundaries of their creativity to deliver the exquisite pieces featured in the exhibition.
JULIA RAVENSCROFT CURATOR
It was a great honour to be invited to curate the 2026 Collect presentation for Design & Crafts Council Ireland (DCCI). I have worked with DCCI before on projects and know the Collect fair well, but to have the opportunity to work closely with this group of artists was very special and it has been a huge pleasure. Each artist has been generous with their time and shared with me not only the process of their work but a ‘behind the scenes’ closer look in to their practice and I am truly grateful to each one.
This presentation by sixteen leading Irish artists brings a fresh perspective to the rhythms of the four seasons. Furniture sits alongside textiles, ceramics, and woodwork, jewellery, metal work, glass, knives, and organic materials, with each piece echoing shifts in light, colour, and form. Spring’s renewal, summer’s abundance, autumn’s reflections, and winter’s clarity, appear as gentle thematic threads rather than overt motifs, allowing the work’s individuality to come to the fore. The result is an engaging experience that invites visitors to connect with the seasons in surprising ways.
CATHY BURKE
Ramelina Form i 2026, Stoneware ceramics, dry textured volatile glazes, 37 × 22 × 23cm
Photography: Simon Lazewski
Cathy Burke is a ceramic artist based in County Wicklow, whose practice is deeply rooted in a long relationship with botany and geology. Drawing inspiration from nature, Cathy’s work explores emotion, movement, fragility, and decay.
Working primarily in hand-built stoneware, Cathy finishes each piece with complex layered glazes that evoke textures like flaking rusts, mosses and lichens, symbolising cycles of decay and renewal in a fragile environment.
An acclaimed artist, she has received numerous awards, including the Golden Fleece Special Award (2023), and support from the Arts Council and Design & Crafts Council Ireland on a number of occasions. Cathy’s work has been exhibited internationally across Europe, the UK, Korea, and Japan.
HUGO BYRNE
Talamh 2025, San Mai steel, stabilised turf, G10, brass, sterling silver, 5.5 × 2.4 × 39cm
Photography: The artist
Hugo Byrne’s blades are crafted from contrasting laminated steels that echo the waves crashing along the Atlantic coast. Each blade is made with a meticulous attention to balance, finish, and precision. The handles are formed from materials native to Ireland, ranging from ancient bog oak to stabilised peat, and are highlighted with colourful ocean plastic gathered from the beaches of the west of Ireland, grounding each piece firmly in place and material history.
Deeply inspired by Ireland’s landscape and its influence on Irish culinary culture, Byrne’s work is an homage to these traditions, uniting quality, craft, and sustainability through a thoughtful making process that values longevity and function in every element of our daily lives.
Mike Byrne’s work is continuously evolving. Each piece a direct descendant of the one that came before. A constant exploration of material, process, form and surface. Mike builds soft clay slabs into shapes that express the material’s malleability, sometimes highlighting this by using contrasting sharp edges and severe cuts into the forms. The surface patina is built up using multiple layers of coloured engobes and dry glaze; each piece experimental, each piece a moment in a lifetime of exploration.
Mike has exhibited extensively and his work features in a number of private and national collections. He is co-founder of The Irish Contemporary Ceramics Collection at the Hunt Museum.
Photography: Roland Paschhoff
SELIENA COYLE
Stories: Angela 2022, Wooden building blocks, brass, aluminium, image transfer on brass, 13 × 9 × 2cm
Women’s
Photography: The artist
Seliena Coyle is a jeweller, educator, and curator with over twenty-five years’ experience working at the intersection of craft, narrative, and cultural history. At the heart of Seliena’s practice lies a commitment to narrative, memory, and making — using the language of craft to recover, honour, and amplify voices too often unheard.
Each icon combines traditional metalsmithing techniques with a visual storytelling language that draws on historical, fictional, and contemporary female figures. Through these pieces, Seliena seeks to create acts of remembrance and reclamation — objects that invite reflection on how narratives are constructed, whose stories are privileged, and how art can redress historical imbalances through representation. W: selienacoyle.co.uk / E: seliena.coyle@btinternet.com / I: @selienacoyle
PAOLA DI LEGGE
Stillness in Motion 2026, Preserved Amaranth,
72.5 × 72.5cm Photography: The artist
Stillness in Motion interprets the landscape as an evolving system shaped by time, erosion, and movement rather than a fixed geography. Crafted with preserved Amaranth filaments, the work holds organic material in a suspended state, reflecting how landscapes are constantly changing while momentarily fixed in our perception.
Through sculptural wall-based works, Paola Di Legge works primarily with preserved plant materials, drawn to their capacity to hold both fragility and endurance. With a particular interest in how natural environments are experienced rather than measured, texture, depth, and colour encourage slow engagement and close looking, aiming to create contemplative spaces that foster an intuitive connection with the natural world — shaped by sensation and presence rather than definition or control.
NOEL DONNELLAN
Offering to the Sky 2026, Clay, tempera, 23ct gold,
35 × 20 × 23.5cm Photography: The artist
Noel Donnellan’s practice bridges craftsmanship, sculpture, and design through a material dialogue between ceramic, scagliola, gold, and pigment. Rooted in Ireland yet shaped by two decades of work across Europe’s finest interiors, Noel's work reflects a deep respect for traditional craft, reframed through contemporary sculptural form.
Originally trained in mechanical engineering and the classical techniques of the decorative arts, Noel evolved from creating architectural ornament to producing autonomous sculptural objects. The transition from wall to vessel, from surface to form, allowed him to explore the inherent tension between precision and imperfection — between the human hand and the timeless pull of nature.
Winter Rose I 2024, Porcelain, tulle and thread, 16cm dia
Michael McLaughlin
Jennifer Hickey is an Irish porcelain sculptor who lives and works on the west coast of Ireland. She is drawn to the beauty and subtlety of the natural world, and her work investigates the rhythms and movement of nature and her relationship with it.
Each of Jennifer’s sculptures is made from thousands of tiny, wafer-thin fired porcelain pieces. These are made by hand-working the porcelain to a fine, almost paper-thin finish. After firing, the pieces are sewn onto a tulle fabric over a porcelain sculptural form. It takes months of hand sewing to complete each work and the slowness, repetition, and ritual inherent in this making are essential to her practice.
Photography:
JOHN LEE
Table 2023, European Oak, 76 × 120 × 190cm
Photography: Roland Paschhoff
John Lee graduated from the Furniture College, Letterfrack (ATU Connemara), in 1993 and has worked from his purpose-built studio in his native Co. Meath since 2004. He is a third-generation cabinetmaker and his bespoke furniture is inspired by naturally occurring geometric forms and the effects of weathering and erosion.
Flowing between the boundaries of fine furniture and fine art, John creates objects that feel alive, as if shaped by natural forces but carefully crafted by human hands. He sees furniture not as static, utilitarian design, but as a medium for poetic expression — a form of sculpture that quietly inhabits our daily lives. W: johnleefurniture.com / E: john@johnleefurniture.com / I: @johnleefurniture
At Collect 2026, Cara Murphy will be showing her piece Long Grass Teapot. Cara is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths; a QEST scholar; an Associate Academician of the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts; a selected member of Contemporary British Silversmiths; and a selected maker with the Design & Crafts Council Ireland Irish Craft Portfolio.
Cara’s silver tableware is represented in many national and international, public and private collections including: the V&A Museum; The Silver Trust Collection at Downing Street; The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths; the Arts Council of Northern Ireland; the Ulster Museum; the National Museum of Ireland; the Irish Embassy Collection; and the Pearson Silver Collection.
Jane Murtagh is an artist and metalsmith whose practice explores visual narrative through the forging, etching, and patination of non-ferrous metals. She is interested in the balance between ethnobotany, music notation, and the written word. Her work is shaped by the challenging and relentless Irish landscape, where nature brings life and work together.
Jane’s practice is an ongoing exploration of techniques, and using these techniques, she creates one-off pieces of metalwork for exhibition and commission. After graduating, Jane worked in a bronze casting foundry in Belgium then honed her silversmithing and hollowware techniques at the Dublin Silversmithing Company.
Helen O’Shea is an Irish artist based in Cork who exhibits internationally. Helen has developed a practice of sculptural making that directly involves us with issues of waste and recycling while challenging our anthropological perceptions of the deep ocean. Through use/reuse of existing materials, she creates forms that mimic the natural world and engage our relationship to it. Helen uses techniques and equipment synonymous with fibre and textile arts — the sewing machine, tacking pins, embroidery threads — and boldly takes ownership of plastic waste materials.
Helen attained an MA by Research in MTU Crawford College of Art and Design 2021, where she focused on new narratives for waste plastics.
MARY PALMER
The Poison Apple 2025, Cotton and wool with cotton, polyester, silk thread, 95 × 97cm
Mary Palmer’s work is grounded in the construction and style of traditional patchwork and quilting, but plays with definitions, expectations, and perceptions of the world around us.
The Poison Apple is the first in a planned series exploring poisons and perceptions. When the tomato was introduced to Europe, it was widely believed to be poisonous, a reputation shaped by fear and misunderstanding. This belief stemmed from its association with the deadly nightshade family and reports of illness among those who consumed it. It is now understood that these reactions were caused by a chemical interaction between acidic tomato juice and lead in pewter plates. Through this work, Palmer reflects on how myths endure and how perception shapes reality.
Michael Rice’s work is driven by a long-standing fascination with natural systems and the transformative qualities of clay. In the studio, he uses traditional techniques to explore form, texture, and surface. Drawn to archetypal shapes, Michael often incorporates patterns inspired by nature — coral, seed pods, erosion, and cellular structures.
These forms carry a quiet resonance, something timeless and grounded that echoes through each piece. Surface detail plays a central role in his work, with finishes that feel ancient, as if uncovered rather than made. Michael’s aim is not simply to create beautiful objects, but to evoke a sense of balance, memory, and material intelligence.
EMER ROBERTS
Bird in the Nest 2024, 18ct Yellow gold, clear bio-based epoxy resin, feathers, nest, 5.5 × 13 × 8.5cm
Photography: The artist
With an MFA in Sculpture, Emer Roberts transitioned from large-scale sculptural works to luxury fine-art jewellery.
Aspiring to arouse wonder, Emer explores the culture of ornamentation and curiosity through the process of taxidermy, mould-making, and repetition in casting. The legacy of taxidermy is symbolic of the devastating ecological impact on the natural world. Within Emer’s practice, it provides visual, social, and moral analogies that enable artistic expression.
Bird in the Nest is the creative origin of Emer’s Murmuration piece which focuses upon the dynamic visual of starling birds and the disordered yet seamlessly interwoven movement of murmurations — marvels of the natural world.
Andrea Spencer is a glass artist based in Ballintoy on the North Antrim coast, creating delicate flameworked glass sculptures and ephemeral installations inspired by nature. At the flame, Andrea engages in a dialogue between control and spontaneity. Using both traditional and experimental flameworking techniques, she manipulates molten glass with precision and intuition, shaping and assembling components into complex structures.
Andrea exhibits nationally and internationally, including a recent show at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art (USA), which acquired her work for its permanent collection. Her accolades include the Rosy James Memorial Trust Award (2025) and the QEST Award (2022). Alongside her studio practice, Andrea teaches widely and offers workshops from her studio. What Remains 2026, Boroscilcate glass, 20 × 35 × 15cm
Photography: Simon Mills
ZELOUF & BELL
Ginkgo Bar Cart 2026, Black bolivar, custom stainless steel hardware, mother-of-pearl, shagreen, hand rubbed matte lacquer finish, 78 × 60 × 160cm (open)
Photography: Roland Paschhoff
Zelouf & Bell and their small team of master cabinet makers have been making museum-quality one-off and limited-edition custom furniture in their workshop in rural Ireland since 1992.
Ginkgo Bar Cart honours the ancient, sacred Ginkgo Biloba, witness to sages and history, a living fossil and archive of retained memory. Inspired by the Art Deco Normandie Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico and the streamline moderne Art Deco SS Normandie ocean liner, the Ginkgo Bar Car t in black bolivar features a fan of delicate marquetry ginkgo leaves inlaid in white mother-of-pearl, with custom polished stainless steel hardware and concealed castors. Pull-out shelves either end of the cart feature an Art Deco fan motif in white mother-of-pearl.
W: zeloufandbell.com /
COLLECT 2026
ARTIST PRICE LIST
CATHY BURKE
Ramelina Form i 2026
Stoneware ceramics, dry textured volatile glazes
37 × 22 × 23cm
£1,100
Ramelina Form ii 2026
Stoneware ceramics, dry textured volatile glazes
49 × 21 × 26cm
£1,100
Ramelina Form iii 2026
Stoneware ceramics, dry
textured volatile glazes
38 × 23 × 25cm
£1,100
HUGO BYRNE
Móin (Chef) 2026
San Mai steel, stabilised peat, Atlantic Ocean plastic, brass, sterling silver
6 × 35.5 × 2.4cm
£1,160
Móin (Vegetable) 2026
San Mai steel, stabilised peat, Atlantic Ocean plastic, brass, sterling silver
5.5 × 29 × 2.4cm
£1,080
Móin (Utility) 2026
San Mai steel, stabilised peat, Atlantic Ocean plastic, brass, sterling silver
2.8 × 23.8 × 1.8cm
£710
MIKE BYRNE
Urbanesque Series 1–6
2025–2026
Fired clay, engobe, glaze
31 × 26cm (1 to 5)
31 × 28cm (6)
£750 each
SELIENA COYLE
Women’s Stories 2018–2026
Mixed media
Variable size
£1,230 each
PAOLA DI LEGGE
Stillness in Motion 2026
Preserved Amaranth
72.5 x 72.5cm
£4,600
NOEL DONNELLAN
Sovereign Gate 2026
Clay, tempera, 23ct gold
48.5 × 29.5 × 16.5cm
£14,500
Keeper of the Ember 2026
Clay, tempera, 23ct gold
30 × 17 × 17cm
£10,500
Offering to the Sky 2026
Clay, tempera, 23ct gold
35 × 20 × 23.5cm
£9,000
Lumen Divide 2026
Clay, tempera, 23ct gold
55.5 × 34.5 × 25cm
£7,000
*All details correct at time of going to print
Dimensions in cm H × W × D
JENNIFER HICKEY
Wintering I 2026
Porcelain, tulle, thread
42 × 18 × 16cm
£7,600
Wintering II 2026
Porcelain, tulle, thread
23.5 × 10 × 10cm
£3,600
Winter Rose I 2024
Porcelain, tulle, thread
16cm dia
£3,400
New bloom 2026
Porcelain, tulle, thread
9 × 8cm
£1,500
JOHN LEE
Ebb 2026
Ash,suede
130 × 50 × 50cm
£18,420
CARA MURPHY
Long Grass Teapot 2025
Sterling silver, nylon
28 × 28 × 28cm
£19,800
JANE MURTAGH
Winter Wandering 1 2026
Repousse and etched copper sheet with verdegris patination, 23ct gold leaf
103.5 × 32.5 × 4.5cm
£1,900
Winter Wandering 2 2026
Etched copper sheet with verdegris patination, 23ct gold leaf
43 × 43 × 4.5cm
£1,720
HELEN O’SHEA
Cluster 2025
Reused milk bottles, cotton threads
48 × 40 × 27cm
£2,700
MARY PALMER
The Poison Apple 2025
Cotton and wool with cotton, polyester, silk thread
Design & Crafts Council Ireland is the national agency for craft and design in Ireland. We support designers and makers to develop their businesses in a sustainable way, and advocate for the societal benefits of craft and design. DCCI’s activities are funded by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment via Enterprise Ireland. DCCI currently has 68 member organisations and over 3,500 registered clients.
Design & Crafts Council Ireland
Castle Yard, Kilkenny, R95 CAA6, Ireland
+353 567761804
www.dcci.ie
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LinkedIn: @Design & Crafts Council Ireland 27 FEBRUARY—1 MARCH 2026
An Roinn Fiontar, Turasóireachta agus Fostaíochta Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment
