App build: Kilkenny Design Workshops (KDW)

I am delighted to announce the KDW iPad APP designed and build here at Red Lemonade for the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland — right were it all started 50yrs ago this year. You may ask what the KDW is/was? So lets get you up to speed…

The Kilkenny Design Workshops were a revolutionary concept and a thriving creative hub established in the Castle Yard, Kilkenny in the 1960s. Staffed by bright, young international designers, craftspeople, design graduates and apprentices, the workshops’ remit was to improve design and manufacturing standards in Ireland, which they achieved though their creative output right up until closure in 1988.

Now being 50 years since the official opening of Kilkenny Design Workshops, in 2015 and this year being a celebrating Irish design worldwide (ID2015) it was the perfect opportunity to look back at the extraordinary legacy KDW has on the Irish design landscape and its worldwide reach. The KDW was a worlds first government funded design research and development centre of excellence. Its aim was to raise the standard of Irish design within industry and has left a lasting impact.

In fact my studio was where such logos as the P&T logo for Post and Telegraphs (by Damien Harrington) and then the Telecom Eireann identity (by Peter Dabinett) were designed. Its quite the honour to sit where once my childhood heroes carved out the foundation for a modern design industry in Ireland.

The story of KDW is recalled in this immersive interactive app with audio clips from KDW alumni, photographs from the era, rich archival film footage and family documents; some of which have just been made public for the first time. This is a real treat for people interested in design, heritage, tourism, architecture, craft and education.