If you've spent summer weekends scouring garden centres for terracotta pots that look distinctively different, it may be time to steer the search towards Wicklow. The Roundwood Store in the heart of the village has a collection of unique earthenware containers from Anatolia, no less - tracked down by the owner Ros Walshe on a trip to Turkey earlier this year to source exciting new stock.
Previously used to hold water or olive oil, these earthenware vessels come in a wide range of sizes and graceful shapes. The smallest (£65) would qualify as a large vase; the largest (£350) is the sort of thing Ali Baba might have found handy; but most are in between (around £100). Some have handles, some have thread-work detail, some have crackled green glaze around the neck. Although they are less than 50 years old (and are not therefore categorised as antiques), all have a worn appearance which adds greatly to their charm. Worth considering for any well-dressed patio.
Also in the Roundwood Store, as booty from the same Turkish trip, are the most enormous candles imaginable - similar to those featured in a recent issue of Elle Decoration. Moulded in strong, interesting shapes in rough-textured cream wax, they are as much pieces of sculpture as lights designed to burn for hundreds of hours. A massive hemisphere with five wicks, weighing 15 kg, costs £250; smaller candles, still with an extraordinary life expectancy, are from £65. With everything from kilims and painted Indonesian furniture to tasty homemade Wicklow jam on offer, this bright little jewel of a shop is well worth a visit - easily combined with the new shop at Powerscourt and Avoca Handweavers at Kilmacanogue in a crafty outing.
The Roundwood Store, Roundwood, Co Wicklow, tel: 01 281 8454. Closed Monday (except bank holidays); otherwise open daily 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Manufactured sunshine is what we seem to need most this summer - splashes of vivid colour to fool us into thinking the elusive rays are cheering things up when in all probability they're not. One immediate, relatively inexpensive way of cheating on the bad-tempered weather is to deck out the dining table with a cloth and napkins that create the illusion of a much happier climate. Clever stitchers will no doubt buy swathes of bright fabric. Instant fixers may settle gratefully for this season's new tablecloth and napkin sets at KA International in Blackrock.
Given this store's Spanish credentials, it's no surprise that the swirling designs and clear colours of the KA cloths are the stuff of holiday memories - the sort of thing you might find to admire in a smart little restaurant anywhere in Spain. There are two patterns, Alejandria and Armonia, and several colour combinations for the set - a square cloth (1.85m x 1.85m) and eight napkins, priced at £45. If you should feel brave enough to risk a picnic, either would add a large helping of style and verve to that, too.
KA International, 17 Rock Hill, Blackrock, Co Dublin, tel: 278 2033. Open Monday to Saturday 9.30 a.m. to 6 p.m., late opening Friday until 8 p.m.
Driving around in the holiday season, people with an eye for beauty are often as excited by a good local craft shop as by a stretch of spectacular scenery. The difficulty lies in knowing where to find the best outlets for well-designed, high-quality Irish goods when, alas, so many purveyors of Celtic kitsch still persist in peddling their tawdry wares under the general heading of crafts.
But help is at hand. The Crafts Council of Ireland has published A Guide to the Best Contemporary Craft & Design retail outlets in Ireland - a free fold-out map, handsomely produced on their behalf by Design Yard, describing 13 outstanding shops around the country. What makes the selection particularly noteworthy is its source, for the council invited leading designers and craftspeople to identify Ireland's best craft retailers - shops which stock good products and also offer an efficient service.
A short list was drawn up, of the 27 top-scoring nominations out of a total of 196. All of these were invited to participate in the new guide, paying a fee towards production costs; those who took up the offer are in the final list. "We hope that, if it's a success, there will be more names in the next one," says Danae Kindness of Design Yard. But even as it stands, it's a useful pointer to wonderful places like Boston Quay at the Butter market in Enniskillen and The Cat and the Moon in Sligo as well as bigger, better known emporiums. You'll need one to keep in the car and a few others to give to summer visitors.
Available from main tourist offices, the Crafts Council of Ireland shop in the Powerscourt Centre, Design Yard in East Essex Street and all the listed crafts outlets.
Owners of holiday cottages with soon be shutting the house up with a sinking feeling - not just because the summer is at an end but because what they're likely to be greeted with on the next visit is inhospitable Irish damp. Maybe not just damp air, indeed, with the clammy mattresses and cushions it causes, but black mould, flaking plaster and the other nasty problems that tend to arise in a house with closed windows and stagnant, moist air. Dehumidifiers left constantly running are a major advantage. But now there is news of another solution.
The Drimaster 5 is a compact domestic ventilation unit which sits concealed in the loft space with an air vent through the roof and a diffuser fitted in the ceiling below. Working on the principle of positive air pressure, it apparently changes the air in the home completely every one to three hours while doors and windows remain firmly shut. "We've had a huge number of orders from architects, because they understand precisely what it's all about," says Ciaran O'Donovan, managing director of the Irish company which is building up a countrywide network of distributors and installers of this Welsh product. Recently, the Drimaster won an Environmental Initiative of the Year award in a British heating and ventilation trade paper - not least because of its low energy cost. While the unit is priced at £495, it costs just 1p per day - less than £4 a year - to run.
More information from Irish agents Connections (Gas & Electric) Ltd, tel: 01 284 4423, fax: 280 2426.
It's a year since Irish furniture designer Robert Drennan opened his accessories shop, and in that time Foko has built up an interesting stock of slick, modern products - things that are good to look at and fun to use. Two are in season right now, because of summer salads. Anybody who enjoys the Italian approach - drizzling oil and vinegar on separately rather than mixing them to make a vinaigrette - will appreciate the handmade glass oil and vinegar dispenser from the German company Leopold (£24.95). The vinegar sits within a round-bottomed flask, positioned at an angle inside a much bigger sphere holding the oil - transforming the usual arrangement of two rather boring bottles into an arty but practical object.
For one tenth of that sum (£2.50) - a bargain price if ever there was one - you can buy the terrific opaque plastic salad servers in the hugely successful Authentics range. They're Italian-designed, as might be guessed from the simple, perfectly proportioned shape, and come in a range of colours including green, blue, orange and white. Salad bowls to match start at £4.50.
Foko, Stephen Street Lower, Dublin 2, tel: 01 475 5044. Open Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. with late opening on Thursday until 8 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.