In the house of Peter Lamb, Eoin Lyons views a personal collection that showcases the Irish Arts & Crafts movement of the 1890s and the Art Deco period of the 1930s. 'It was a time when Irish people were outstanding at making stained glass, carpets, textiles and craft-based things,' says Lamb.
KATHLEEN COX ART DECO CERAMICS Lamb collects the work of Irish potter Kathleen Cox, who worked in Dublin during the 1920s and 1930s. "She was born in China in 1904. Her father worked in Shanghai, but the family came back to Ireland in 1911 and settled in Howth. Cox went to the National College of Art - or Metropolitan as it was called in those days - and then set up a studio on Schoolhouse Lane." Among Lamb's pieces are glazed mask portraits of the painter Bridget O'Brien, and Norris Davidson, a film-maker. "Cox isn't well known, but she was one of the first artist potters in Ireland and worked in the Art Deco style."
DUN EMER GUILD POSTER Lamb has a 1927 poster designed by artist Kathleen McCormack for the Dun Emer Guild to promote Dublin Civic Week, an art and literature festival.
ROBERT COSTELLOE PAINTING "He was known as Robin, and he died aged 31 in a car accident in 1974. One of his brothers is Paul Costelloe, the fashion designer. He was a great talent and this is very much the avant-garde style of the time it was painted in - the mid-1960s. He was one of the first to use poured concrete and he did the sculptural wall at Lansdowne House."
TRANSATLANTIC CABLE This Arts & Crafts memorial piece was made from a small section of the cable that stretched between Valentia Island and Newfoundland.
THE COUNTRY SHOP PLATES These plates are from The Country Shop, which was at 23 St Stephen's Green, near Kildare Street. "It was set up in the 1930s by Muriel Gahan, and was the precursor to Kilkenny Design and The Crafts Council. It was a cafe-come-crafts-shop, and was linked to the Irish Country Women's Association. It sold pottery, metal work, rugs, textiles, clothing and rush-work, produced around the country. It closed in the 1970s, when the original founders became too old to carry on. You can read about it in Geraldine Mitchell's biography of Muriel Gahan, Deeds Not Words."
HIBERNIAN HOTEL TABLE Lamb bought this Art Deco table at an auction of the contents of the Hibernian Hotel after it closed in the 1970s. "This table would have been in the Buttery Bar, which was a fashionable venue for bright young things in the 1930s." On the table is a 1930s sculpture by Lady Beatrice Glenavy, and on the wall behind a picture by Evie Hone, an Irish artist from the same period.
PATRICK SCOTT FABRICS Lamb has a suitcase full of fabrics by Patrick Scott, who is better known as a painter. They were commissioned by Brown Thomas in the mid-1950s. "John Maguire, the owner of the store at the time set up an interiors department in the basement that sold furniture from Denmark and Scandinavia, including pieces by Alvar Aalto and Finn Juhl. He commissioned four Irish artists to design printed fabrics."