Killucan designer wins at Future Makers Awards

Eoghan McGuinness has been named as one of the winners in the ‘Student and Recent Graduates’ category of this year’s Future Makers Awards from Design and Crafts Council Ireland.

Awards totalling €25,000 were up for grabs at the ceremony, which aimed to recognise emerging talent in the industry and provide them with financial support.

Eoghan’s entry to the awards included signet rings, chains, and necklaces, all of which were sand cast.

The winners in each category were chosen at the RDS on September 3 last.

A past pupil of Coláiste Mhuire, the Killucan designer said his interest goes back a long time. “I always wanted to do art in some shape or form in college, but I wasn’t sure,” he said.

“I had an inkling that I wanted to do jewellery, so it was either that or painting.

“I went to the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, where you can do an entry year, and during that, I got to do jewellery, which I really, really loved and ended up sticking with.”

He said there’s quite a lot involved in the craft.

“It’s a 50-50 split, where half of it would be design work – coming up with ideas, doing drawings, and designing jewellery,” he said.

“The second half would be all metalwork: creating the jewellery using silver, working with gemstones; that’s kind of the road I went down.”

Eoghan said he found his niche in sand casting.

“I really loved sand casting; it’s what I ended up spending most of my time doing,” he said.

“You make a mould with clay, out of sand, and you can pour metal into it, and it gives you a good general shape to work with.

“I work with the shapes to get these beautiful textured rings that I set stones into.”

After graduating, Eoghan decided to stay in education, but this time as a teacher. “I work in Silverworks, where we do workshop courses in Dublin,” he said.

“We teach people how to make sterling silver rings within the class, and I teach some other classes too.

“It was a great opportunity for me, and I’m delighted to have got it.”

He hopes to further expand his knowledge of jewellery making in the future.

“I’ve been working mostly with silver up until now, but I’m hoping to expand to goldsmithing, and I’m applying for courses in and outside of Ireland to do that,” he said.

“I want to advance my skills more and learn as much about the craft of making jewellery as possible.”