My inspirations flow from the world around me, in the glimpses of colour & pattern I see in nature. I distill these pure, undiluted sources, & weave them by hand into each scarf.
brendan joseph
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Crafting the ingredients of
luxury
Each scarf is worked by hand from cashmere, silk & linen, spun & dyed in Huddersfield, woven & finished in the studio in Dublin.
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True luxury takes
time A thousand threads of linen & silk, measured out & passed through the eye of a needle on 1 of 32 pattern harnesses, are now known as the ‘warp’. They entwine & play as they wait on the loom to be handwoven with cashmere into an heirloom scarf.
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The ancient craft of stitching warp & weft
weaving
Foot pedals raise 32 pattern harnesses, opening a tunnel through which 3 - 9 thousand ‘weft’ threads are placed, one per lift. After each thread, the tunnel closes & the new weaving is combed flat.
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The splendour of a thousand tasselled
threads
After 40 hours of weaving over 5,000,000 stitches by hand, the scarf is steamed, hand-felted & pressed. The 1,200 threads at each end are now plaited into tassels.
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Great art is always
signed My work is my autograph. Wherever in the world you wear your scarf, you carry all the influences & inspirations I wove into it on the loom. As I weave each piece I give it a name, and when it’s complete, I sign it with my own.
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Introducing the maker of an
heirloom Irish designer Brendan Joseph weaves scarves by hand from the most precious natural fibres of silk, cashmere & linen. He was the 2011 winner of the prestigious Golden Fleece Award merit prize, nominated as Accessory Designer of the Year at the 2013 Irish Fashion Innovation Awards, and has been shortlisted for the Crafts Council of Ireland Futuremakers Award. He has twice exhibited at the RDS National Craft Exhibition. Brendan Joseph's handwoven heirloom scarves have been featured in the Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Galway Now Magazine & Sunday Independent. His scarves are currently for sale at Dublin’s exclusive five-star Dylan Hotel & The Design Centre in Powerscourt Townhouse, as well as online at BrendanJoseph.ie
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Capturing and distilling
nature
Inspired by & flowing from a
source
Dublin Bay - the soft shimmering multi-faceted surfaces of water, a horizonless expanse of blue & beige, a merger of sea, sand & sky.
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Inspired by & handwoven in
dublin
The River Liffey at Night - The colours, sights, & sounds of Dublin, a twinkling blur of deep blue punctuated by the city’s lights.
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Leaving place behind, a limited collection of heirloom scarves
DARK HEDGES I. EPONYM II. QUIES III. UTINAM FORTIOR I wish I had been braver IV. NUDUS FACIAM TE AMO Naked will I love thee still V. FIVE HUNDRED & THIRTY-NINE VI. PARIS I want it to be You
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I. EPONYM
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II. QUIES
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III. UTINAM FORTIOR I wish I had been braver
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IV. NUDUS FACIAM TE AMO Naked will I love thee still
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V. FIVE HUNDRED & THIRTY-NINE
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VI. PARIS I want it to be You
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Every Irish scene tells its story in a
signature e new Brendan Joseph scarf & bow-tie collection brings the elements of what Brendan Joseph is all about - the source of Ireland, the art of storytelling, the quality of materials & workmanship. Each unique scarf & bow-tie is machineloomed & hand-made from 100% silk, starting at â‚Ź89 for bow-ties, â‚Ź189 for scarves.
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1. Dublin City at Night 2. Dublin from the Hills 3. Daylight in Dublin 4. Flowers in the Dark 5. Wicklow Mountains 6. Howth Head 7. Killiney Hill 8. Dublin Bay 9. Petal and Stem (Orchid) 10. Flowers in the Light
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The Walk I’m fascinated by the secret stories craftsmen have hidden in their work since ancient times. This piece, ‘The Walk’ follows this tradition. As I walked, happy in love, along the Great South Wall, a marvel of 18th Century engineering stretching miles out into Dublin Bay, I soaked up colours, textures, & feelings that shaped my experience. Sea-smoothed lichen-speckled rocks of deep purple & pewter, uneven granite slabs, the mist-cloaked promontories of Howth and Dun Laoghaire, the striking red lighthouse, and that all-pervasive expanse of blue are in each square of pattern you run your hand over. Hidden deeper, are the secret parts of the story, elements of ethereal beauty - her pale white freckled skin, her potent poppy-red lips, her green-blue-brown eyes… The striking bands of red - just 23 threads at each end of this piece - make this my ‘red’ scarf, a distillation of the stories of its source, both told & still secret.
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brendan joseph textile design & handweaving studio
IE: + 353 86 384 1722 UK: +44 75 11 822 812 Find & Follow @brenyes on your social media networks. Email your inquiries to studio@brendanjoseph.ie
www.brendanjoseph.ie 48