Claire shuts shop but keeps design business going
Striving for a better work, life balance is the reason Claire Delabre is closing her craft shop on Mount Street in Mullingar.
A commercial resident on the street for 12 years now, Claire is shutting up shop, but will keep her business, Handmade Design Studio, going.
Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner, she said: “The shop is closing because I have to rebalance my work life, I have to restore the work-life balance because I work every day, pretty much. I’m in the shop five days a week but on Monday, my day off, I always have to do something connected to the shop.
“So for the last 12 years, that’s the way I’ve been working. And at Christmas time last year, I took two weeks off, thinking even to rest, which I did, but then coming back here in January, I didn’t have the same energy.”
That led Claire to think to make a decision to step back. “Something has to give, and it shouldn’t be me, you know,” she said.
The shop will close, “unfortunately, because I love what I do” in the coming weeks, “but I’ll keep doing the commissioned pieces, hand-painting furniture, upholstery work for customers”.
Not having the responsibility of running the shop and keeping it stocked will free Claire up to focus on the rest of what Handmade Design Studio represents.
Claire has lived in Ireland for 30 years, in Mullingar for 20 and has been in business on Mount Street for 12, initially at number 10, beside Fraynes, and for the last six years in the unit on the corner of Blackhall, next to James L Murtagh auctioneers.
Her home studio is also in Mullingar, and it will operate by appointment only when the shop closes.
Claire said she will have to adjust to moving away from Mount Street but she’ll be back regularly to meet the friends she made there.
“I’ll miss the shop. I’ll miss the chats. I’ll miss meeting people, some people have become friends over the years, very good friends. It’s going to be different, really, but I’m staying in Mullingar. I live in Mullingar.”
She thanked the Topic shop and Murtaghs for taking in her deliveries when she wasn’t there on Mondays, the team at Fraynes and Liz Tynan, who regularly dropped in for chats, and her many loyal customers.
“People have been very supportive of the shop, and it’s important to support independent shopkeepers, I think.”
• Handmade Design Studio will operate by appointment only after the shop on Mount Street closes; contact Claire at 085 818 4644; handdesign10@gmail.com and see handmadedesign.net.