NY Now

This was DCCoI’s first time at one of the US’s biggest design trade shows - NYnow. It marked an opportunity for Irish design, with confidence in the sector high due to the ID2015 initiative, to surprise an audience that has a very traditional perception of what we have to offer.

DCCoI had two stands, one presenting a selection of our most exciting designer/makers, and another highlighting the wider story, encapsulated by the year of Irish design. Working closely with curator and exhibition designer Steven McNamara we decided to tackle preconceptions head on by presenting Irish design as unexpected, modern, confident and iconic. We utilised the ID15 blue, which in itself is an unexpected and bold colour to represent Ireland. While the foyer stand used large walls of the blue to create impact and draw attention, the maker stand used the blue as a highlight against white, allowing the products to stand out while still connecting the two areas.

For the catalogue we photographed the products in a table top setting to echo how it was presented at the fair. We paired these images with iconic illustrations of each of the products. While this approach is widely used with high end design internationally, using it here really underscored that for contemporary Irish products, design is every bit as important as craft.