Twist on nature

Anna Kavanagh’s fairytale headpieces made from natural foliage grown in her garden – dogwood, honeysuckle vine and everlasting flowers along with bog grasses – turn heads whenever she puts them on display. “It’s a twist on nature,” says the green-fingered Kavanagh from Birr, Co Offaly, who was for a long time a hairdresser in Reds of Dawson Street, Dublin. When illness forced her to give up work, she went to art college and found a new metier in sculpture and painting, and later completed a millinery course. Her family owns a garden centre and when she made a dress from foliage “as a piece of art” it attracted such attention that she went on to create headpieces, shoes and handbags from beech leaves, grasses, pine nuts and flowers she grew and dried herself. For further information, you can contact Kavanagh at 085-1156365 or email annaart@campus.ie Deirdre McQuillan