Tapping into the vein of gold

RURAL RETREAT: Gemma Tiptonvisits a new retreat in Co Kilkenny which offers people an opportunity to break from the daily grind and release some of their creativity

OSCAR WILDE is credited with saying that when bankers get together for dinner they discuss art, and when artists get together, they discuss money. Like many of Wilde’s sayings, there’s unexpected truth in it: not that artists are obsessed with money, or vice versa; rather that each is fascinated by, and would like to have, just a touch of what the other lot has. Not only do artists and craftspeople benefit from some background in business but, increasingly, those who have opted for the corporate world are realising how much there is to be gained from setting some of their creativity free.

That was the reason Pat McCarthy, one of those rare people with an abundance of both business acumen and creativity, decided to restore a farmhouse in the gorgeous south Kilkenny countryside and set up a retreat for people to come and try something different. At Ballilogue Clochán you can book in for workshops in creative writing, photography, drawing, jewellery-making, and an abundance of other diversions for your talents. And you don’t have to be especially experienced, or even particularly good at your chosen skill.

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CREATIVE COCOON (clockwise from above left): Pat McCarthy at the entrance to Ballilogue Clochán; the sittingroom; dining room; garden. PHOTOGRAPHS: MARK McCALL

The essence of Ballilogue was summed up for McCarthy when a friend from the world of business confessed: “I’m so busy all the time that the idea of being able to go away for a couple of days, to be in a safe environment and be able to paint or draw, scares me. But it provides such a respite from the every day world . . .”. McCarthy, who works in the creative world all the time was “surprised to realise that for others life is so busy and structured. When everything is full-on, you don’t get space. There are huge demands, and you’re working within certain boundaries, so you don’t always have time to explore beyond them.”

This realisation spurred the always animated and engaging former menswear designer McCarthy to explore new trends. McCarthy was born in Birr, Co Offaly, and brought up in west Cork. He studied fashion in Manchester, and then did a postgrad in marketing. “I had always wanted to travel, and Manchester felt very exotic at the time.”

A stint in New York followed, and McCarthy’s own label grew, and his designs incorporating traditional Irish materials sold throughout the world. In 2000, giving up that aspect of his work, McCarthy set up his studios, from which he works with designers and businesses to create branding, advise on product development, and predict future trends.

“It became obvious to me that it’s not enough to do the colour and the shape of an object, it has to be about a story. And that story allows the product to come out. It’s about bringing it back to something that has a soul.”

Another of the trends identified by McCarthy is “a return to quality, and a return to handmade. With this, you’re buying into something that won’t date. Even when times are tough, we’re instinctive consumers, we’ll always want things – it’s the way we are”. If this feels a little like another method of making us buy things, of turning the recession into a marketing opportunity, in the same way that one of the purposes of fashion is to encourage us to buy new clothes, even when we don’t need them, McCarthy is quick to point out that the two are not necessarily at odds.

He cites his friend, the artist Pat Scott, whose decade-old coat is a beloved object. “You’ll always have those items, and you’ll buy things to accent them and to add to them, or to be the next coat you’ll have for 10 years into the future.”

Marketing and branding do add to our sense of things. Knowing that a particular cushion has been handmade in Mongolia (MIM, Made in Mongolia, one of McCarthy’s projects, is a fair trade initiative that works with local communities to create products for sale in Ireland) adds to the sense of, and enjoyment of, that cushion.

But even without that, there’s a strong sense of the quality that good design and a feel for good materials can bring. At Ballilogue, the restored farmhouse where the workshops are held, and where guests are accommodated, there is a persuasive and inspired mixture of the old and the new, the handmade and the mass-produced. An old dresser is illuminated by a funky, contemporary light, and IKEA touches sit comfortably (and effectively) beside gorgeous wool rugs from the nearby Cushendale Woollen Mills.

There’s also a very seductive feeling of peace and quiet, as if youre stepping out of your own life and into another one, however temporarily.

“We’re in the middle of nowhere,” says McCarthy. “We’re close to Kilkenny and New Ross, but in the country. You get wifi, but you also get peace, quiet and contentment. And we’ve put part of that into everything: the great local food, the experience of being here, what people have on their beds – it all has the same sense of place or being.”

This sense also informs how the workshops, which are open to the public, or can be privately booked for corporate groups, are run. “It’s a process with a story and ethos. It’s about slowing down. We keep the groups small. And after dinner, we light the fires and people sit chatting and talking into the evening. This connects to the country traditions of storytelling. It’s not the same, it will never be the same, because we’ve changed and our expectations have changed, but there’s still something magical in it.”

Some people come with their companies, whether for team building or to unlock creative solutions to projects at work, while others book in for courses to bring out their creativity, for their own satisfaction. Instructors include Niall Williams, Pat Boran, Mark McCall and Julie Douglas, and participants say they come away energised by a sense of expanded possibilities.

Ann Dack, who runs the project with McCarthy, says that selecting the workshop facilitators has been like “being in a sweet shop – choosing all these great people you’d love to spend a weekend with”. And if it’s a sweet shop, it’s one that should appeal to the one-in-four people identified by a recent UK survey as wanting to use their holidays to learn something new.

“But,” adds McCarthy, “as they get older, people are also thinking of what will happen when their corporate lives end. We all have a need to tap into something we’re passionate about, the thing we want to do for more than money.”

Art and money together? What do they talk about over dinner at Ballilogue? To find out, you’ll just have to book a course.

Ballilogue Clochán, Inistioge, Co Kilkenny, tel: 051-423857, ballilogueclochan.com. Residential courses cost from €495