We specialise in handcrafted, designer ceramic homewares, wall art and jewellery made in Dublin, Ireland. Our design ranges combine earthy, organic yet sleek and contemporary aesthetics that display well in both urban and rustic settings. We are inspired by travels, nature, wanderlust, antiquated trade routes and our home country of Ireland. In our designs, one can detect echoes of ancient artefacts from diverse cultures – Celtic, Roman, European, Oriental and Mesoamerican – and yet each piece is unique. We use deep, luxurious glazes and enrich our designs with patterns created from found objects obtained whilst traveling, such as antique textile stamps and fallen coconut shells. Every piece has a story! About Danu:
Danu was the primordial Celtic Goddess of earth and creativity and the Hindi Goddess of water - 3 elements which are fundamental to the creation of ceramics. It is believed that the two Goddesses have the same origin, from when the Vedic people of South Asia traded and interacted with the Celts of Western Europe. Many waterways around Europe and Asia have been named after Danu, such as the Danube river in Germany and the Danu river in Nepal. Ancient peoples from Western Europe and South Asia referred to themselves as children of Danu. In Ireland, they was called the Tuatha Dé Danann (the people/tribe of the goddess Danu). Both regions of Asia and Ireland are a huge inspiration to the work that we create, in regards to pattern, colour, shape, function and design philosophies.
[More info: http://vedanet.com/2012/06/13/vedic-origins-of-the-europeans-the-children-of-danu/]
Design Philosophy:
We believe that objects alchemised from clay should retain a natural quality, showing appreciation of the integrity of natural objects and processes, with evidence of being made by human hands. Wabi-sabi (侘寂) is an ancient philosophy rooted in Zen Buddhism. It is a Japanese aesthetic that values the imperfect, the handmade and the simple. It connotes rustic simplicity, freshness or quietness and can be applied to both natural and human-made objects, or understated elegance. It can also refer to quirks and anomalies arising from the process of construction, which add uniqueness and elegance to the object. Accepting the world as imperfect, unfinished, and transient, and then going deeper and celebrating that reality, is something not unlike freedom. Richard Powell, author of 'Wabi Sabi Simple: Create beauty. Value imperfection. Live deeply' (2004). DANU Designer Ceramics was founded by Ruth Power, an award winning Irish artist and designer.
