Candlelight and fresh flowers: entertain like Marion Cody

Marion Cody has been at the forefront of design in Ireland for many years, providing strategic consultancy to clients including the Brown Thomas Group, Digicel, D2Private, Goffs Bloodstock Sales, Island Capital, Mater Private, the National Museum of Ireland and Showcase Ireland.

From Dublin, she studied French and history of art at UCD and later completed a master's in business studies at the Smurfit Business School.

Her current projects include visual direction for Showcase Ireland, assisting with the launch of a major fundraising initiative for RCSI to create a medical quarter in the city centre and developing a new umbrella brand for Irish design for the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland.

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Some of Marion Cody’s favourite pieces. Photograph: Kieran Hartnett

A sister of fashion designer Helen Cody, she is married with four children.

Describe your interiors style

It is modern, classic, always comfortable and welcoming. Ours is a busy house and we entertain constantly. I like to keep entertaining casual and love candlelight, fresh flowers and a muted palette.

My choice of artwork is always bright and very colourful so that the overall effect is of lots and lots of colour, but rarely in the furniture or wall colours. I am addicted to open fires which we light every evening in the winter – and there are always blankets and even sheepskins to keep people comfortable.

Which room do you most enjoy?

Without question, our kitchen. It is very large, open plan and light filled. It spills out on to our small but well-designed garden. We used the wonderful garden designer Paul Doyle to plan it some years ago and it was money really well spent. We have a large table which is almost always full of people, as cooking is my absolute passion and I enjoy having friends and family around. The house works very hard and I hope it is always friendly and relaxed.

My Kitchen Aid – beautiful to look at and functionally superb; a print work by Rory McCormick who has reinterpreted county sporting memorabilia in a bold, graphic and modernist way. His posters are fresh and a very affordable way to bring vibrancy and graphic punch into a neutral space.

For ceramics, I love the pea head man by Jean Muir, whose work is very playful and very beautiful. My sister Helen introduced me to her work.

Who is your favourite designer?

As visual director for Showcase, I have been introduced to a raft of new Irish designers and craft workers and it is a very exciting category. I adore the work of Sinéad Lough and every year I add some of her colourful pinch pots, mugs and bowls to my collection.

I love the work of Deanta Design – Matthew Molloy’s Carvel chair is a thing of beauty made using the techniques of boat construction from the west coast. I don’t own one but it is on my wish list.

I really appreciate beautiful glassware and although using crystal daily sounds crazy, when you try it it's hard to go back. While working with Waterford Crystal some years ago I managed to buy some really beautiful Marc Jacobs glassware and love his simple take on cut crystal.

Which artists do you most admire?

My dream is to own a painting by Donald Teskey – his landscapes are breathtaking and the larger the better. Without large walls to house such work, I love Lucy Doyle – her crazy, colourful portraits are so uplifting. I also love the work of Tom Climent – the common thread is that their work brings vibrancy to my home.

I hate when everything matches, when there is no eclecticism, and the current trend of making everything 50 shades of grey is just too dull for me. Ikea does a good job, but I prefer individuality.

Which travel destination stands out?

New York, without hesitation. My daughter lived there for some years so we got to explore it more as citizens than tourists. It is the most vibrant, exciting and inspiring place to spend time.

If you had €100,000 to spend on anything for the home, what would it be?

What a dream! Our family is startign to dpart and our house is showing all the signs of being a much-loved and over-used home.
I would commission Orior to make a huge couch which I would cover with hand-woven fabric from Mourne Textiles. I would run parquet through the whole ground floor and I would add another bathroom so that when three of my children – who will soon live in Sydney, New York and London – return, they will enjoy a more grown-up space. marioncody.com