Brendan Joseph

Brendan Joseph is an Irish Designer of luxurious handwoven scarves. Brendan was the winner of a Merit Prize at the prestigious 2011 Golden Fleece Award, and is a graduate of the National College of Art and Design. The Brendan Joseph Studio is located at 12 Eastmoreland Place next to the Dylan hotel, just off Upper Baggot Street in Dublin City Centre.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the process of design and handcraft, or would like to see some pieces from Brendan’s range of luxury scarves and the artwork behind them, you are invited to walk in off the street or make an appointment for a time that suits you. Full opening hours are available each week on The Brendan Joseph Studio’s Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/idiranda.

Each scarf in Brendan’s signature collection is woven by hand from 3.9 million stitches of precious natural fibres. Brendan works exclusively in the luxurious natural fibres of silk, linen, cashmere, mink and wool.

These handmade scarves in the signature collection all retail at €360.

Brendan is currently developing his collections of luxurious handwoven scarves for Autumn/Winter 2011 and Spring 2012. The winter collections will see simpler patterns and a concentration on soft warm blankety scarves in natural colours of mink and cashmere while the spring collection will return to lighter weights of silk, linen and wool with a twist on the this year’s signature colour palette.

“In my work, I look constantly to the beauty of the natural world, to Ireland’s heritage of handcraft and innovation, and to the qualities within the materials I choose to work with, bringing all these elements together in a handwoven scarf. I begin with visual research, selecting and developing my colour palette at the same time as developing my own unique patterns. My signature collection for this year is influenced by ancient Irish manuscripts and Arabic architectural illumination. Each unique design begins as a hand-drawn pattern. I then develop and refine the repeating patterns digitally using a unique computer-aided process that I have developed. This allows me to visualise and finalise the intended woven surfaces before production. Yarn sourcing is another key process and understanding how materials work together allows you to bring out the exact qualities of each fibre that you want the scarf to display.”

At the same time as working on his new textile collections, Brendan is developing a new prototype for a hand weaving loom that will allow weavers to produce more complex designs with far greater ease through the use of computer-aided pattern development and a uniquely easy to use mechanism for the weaving of the pattern. You can find out more about this prototype hand weaving loom on the Brendan Joseph Studio blog or on the Facebook page.

“The vision for the Brendan Joseph studio is continue as we have begun, with world-class innovatively designed scarves and textiles, woven by hand in the most beautiful natural materials but we want to take the vision beyond one man working on one loom. I’m passionate about finding a sustainable future for craft in Ireland, and the vision for the Brendan Joseph studio reflects that. I want to see talented Irish designers remain in this country and for the beautiful skills and crafts traditionally handed down from generation to generation to not just live, but to be alive, in harmony with innovation, and timelessly elegant designs that will be at the leading edge of fashion.

I want to continue as I’ve begun, with the highest quality of design, concept and craftsmanship, but I want to add one further value to Brendan Joseph. I want to take what we’ve learnt in Ireland in our rich heritage of handcraft and share this with the people of Haiti, developing a production system there there that is socially, environmentally and financially  sustainable. I will be working between Dublin and Port-au-Prince to help make this happen.

In my visit to Port-au-Prince, Haiti earlier this year, I was blown away by the creativity and beauty of the Haitian people and I have a real desire to see a handcraft industry developed in Haiti.

This is why I am investing in the development of new technologies for hand weaving. Haiti doesn’t have a tradition in weaving or in textiles and this will be a really valuable opportunity for Haitians to learn to learn the skills of production at the highest standard of quality. They will also learn the management skills required for a small creative business and will be able to bring in a sustainable income to support their families.

The reconstruction of Haiti following the January 2010 earthquake has meant that woodwork and electrical skills have become more widespread, but there is still a real need for training in these trades.

It’s my hope that my the weaving loom I am currently prototyping can be produced by craftspeople in Haiti, thus providing further jobs and developing highly transferrable skills in precision woodwork.

Like all great stories, ours starts small, one man in a studio weaving one scarf at a time, but hopefully with your help we can build a sustainable future for design in Ireland, and a meaningful partnership for opening up opportunities in Haiti.