Ballymount designer lands top all-Ireland designer accolade

By William O’Connor

AN UP-and-coming designer based in Ballymount was announced as one of the joint winners of the overall Future Maker of the Year Award 2016 as part of the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland’s annual Future Makers Awards and Supports programme for students and emerging makers.

Furniture designer Simon Doyle, based in Ballymount, shared a prize fund of €5,000 with Edel Traynor. Each joint winner receives €2,500 to support them in their work.

With a total prize fund of €24,500 for 2016, Future Makers Awards & Supports is one of the biggest award programmes of its kind in Europe and is one of a number of Design and Crafts Council of Ireland (DCCoI) initiatives supporting emerging talent.

Divided into student and practitioner categories, the annual programme rewards the next generation of Irish creatives at a critical stage in their career, helping them develop an exciting future in Ireland’s vibrant craft and design industry.

On Wednesday, DCCoI announced 30 emerging designer-makers as this year’s winners during a presentation ceremony at Dean Dublin.

Other Dublin winners included NCAD fashion design student, Ciana Keating from Palmerstown, who was the winner of the Design Award of €1,000.

NCAD student Conaill O’Dwyer from Terenure, who is studying fashion, received Residency Support of €1,000, while Róisín Pierce received the Push the Limits Award of €500 for her radical use of textiles and unique fabric manipulation techniques to create original silhouettes around the body.