Welcome!

Welcome!

As this is our inaugural blog, we thought we’d start by sharing a little about the origins and background to beautifulthings.ie.

The dream of owning a shop was always there. Not just any old shop but a sort of magical emporium filled with shining treasures and exciting discoveries—a place to find the perfect gift or unearth a potential heirloom. It would be full of things that are beautiful to look at, beautiful to touch and beautiful to use—things that people simply love to have in their homes and in their lives.

The worldwide pandemic strangely spurred the dream into a reality. As we all purged our houses of clutter during lockdown, it was very revealing what we held onto and what we got rid of. Out went the cheap, the plastic, the mass produced. The things that stayed were the woodcrafts, the ceramic bowls and mugs, the hand painted pottery, the quirky ironworks, the handmade rugs and throws. These creations connect our past to the future, are rooted in nature and add to our lives, each and every day. Their quality, usefulness and beauty has not diminished over decades and they have survived the vagaries of life such as house moves, clumsy children and many, many clear outs. You can’t get any more sustainable than that.

So, the conversations started with the craftspeople of Ireland who, to be honest, would blow you away. Their pursuit of excellence, their dedication to art, their quest for sustainability and their willingness to share information and advice — all hallmarks of true environmentalists, true artists and true professionals. Irish craftspeople create amazing products—ceramics, woodcraft, textiles, home fragrance and more. Many suppliers even repurpose packaging materials to ship their goods. As always, actions speak louder than words.

Timing dictated that a physical shop wasn’t feasible at present so the next best thing was an online format. Therefore, after several months and much work behind the scenes, we are delighted to bring you www.beautifulthings.ie.

Our mission is to bring you the best of Irish design and craft. We especially want to introduce new and exciting talent and to give a platform to smaller producers. We believe that Irish craft and design is amongst the most beautiful in the world and we want you to experience it for yourself. We won’t sell anything that we wouldn’t use in our own home, or that we don’t personally love.

We are delighted to bring our curated collection of beautiful things.

We hope you love it too.