Thanks to the Favourite Design blog for the feature of our Brand Packaging Design project for Blarney Bees Irish honey on their website, Instagram and Facebook pages.
Blarney Bees Honey Products create traditional and modern Irish honey infusions, using 100% Pure Raw Irish Honey, crafted by their Irish honeybees in Blarney, Co. Cork. The small-batch production method guarantees a distinctive flavour for each batch, while preserving the aroma, texture, and taste of raw Irish blossom honey.
Lovely to see Joyof Foods in action in SuperValu Blanchardstown. Eniola Salami is flying it with her new brand and range of West African cuisine – unique to the market. Her enthusiasm and drive is unstoppable!
Let’s Talk Creative Dublin City LEO & VAI Creative Business Programme Venue: 2 Curved Street, Dublin 2
It was great to be part of this art and design pop-up group exhibition, organised by Dublin City LEO & VAI Creative Business Programme, curated by Valeria Ceregini, featuring myself Clare Lynch along with fellow artists, creatives and designers: Amanda Vencatasamy, Carolyn Walsh, Chris Judge, David Killeen, Derval Turbidy, Helen Mooney, Liv Webster, Liza Kelly, Katherine Shankey and Melissa Carton.
This exciting showcase featured a selection of works by a unique and original mix of Dublin’s artists and designers, highlighting the dynamic fusion of art and design in the city’s creative landscape. The exhibition, which took place on the 6th of March at the VAI exhibition space at 2 Curved Street, Dublin 2, celebrated the ongoing dialogue between the two disciplines, emphasising their ability to inform and inspire each other.
As part of the Dublin City LEO & VAI Creative Business Programme, which aims to support emerging creatives, Creative Convergence showcased visual art, design, limited-edition prints, photography, sculpture, books and originals pieces, each of which reflects Dublin’s vibrant cultural identity. This exhibition brought together local talent, offering visitors a chance to experience the diversity of the city’s creative scene in one captivating space.
Included are some framed high quality prints of my illustration work from the book, Hello Hinterland, written by Dublin-based poet and writer Martin Holohan, which I designed and illustrated. The book was displayed on a wooden stand, in front of the prints, to allow exhibition attendees to look at the full range of illustrations. Martin Holohan came along on the night to see his words on display with the illustrations. It was good to reminisce with him about the good times during the process of creating the book. It was a great experience to be part of the exhibition and come together with the other talented artists. There was a range of creative business advice talks on the night, which added to the evening.
Valeria Ceregini’sCuratorial Vision: “This exhibition is a demonstration of the power of cross-disciplinary dialogue. The curation of work from diverse artists, designers and creatives serves to elevate the conversation around what defines art and design today. Creative Convergence does not merely present objects but explores the relationships between form, function, and emotional engagement, creating a space where boundaries blur, and creativity thrives. The show is a celebration of how art can influence design and how design can elevate art.
The concept of Creative Convergence is rooted in the idea that art and design are not isolated from one another. They are intertwined—each discipline feeding off the other to create new experiences and interpretations. In Dublin, a city known for its rich history of both artistic expression and innovative creatives, this exhibition is an opportunity to highlight the exciting collaborations that are pushing the boundaries of both fields. I’m incredibly proud to present such a talented group of artists, creatives and designers, each offering their unique perspective on how art and design meet in our world.
Pop-up Exhibition: Featuring works from local artists, Creative Convergence: Where Art and Design Meet demonstrates the dynamic and diverse artistic practices thriving within the city. The exhibition will offer a unique opportunity to experience Dublin’s artistic scene, featuring a wide array of mediums and styles.“
During the event we had a photographer, Sherii Shapoval, who took some fabulous shots of the opening night – See Serhii Shapoval
The exhibition was supported and promoted by Dublin City LEO & VAI Creative Business Programme. Visual Artists Ireland (VAI) is the representative body for visual artists in Ireland, supporting their professional development through advocacy, services, and opportunities.
It was great to attend the new design event, BOUNCE, run by the IDI (Irish Design Network). The event ran over January 9th – 10th 2025, at Trinity College Dublin. This two-day event, crafted by the design community for the community, offered fresh, critical perspectives on the design process, giving designers a unique opportunity to explore, engage, and be inspired.
Since the previously run Dublin-based design festival Offset ceased – creatives have missed design conferences like this, as an opportunity to network and stay inspired with the latest projects happening in all areas of design worldwide, so this was a great step towards a positive resurgence of design inspiration and events in Dublin.
Great to attend the recent Dublin design event Luvin Letters In Design – for Typography & Lettering lovers, which ran over the 4th and 5th October in the Complex Arts Centre, Dublin 1.
There was an inspiring line up of speakers and some live mural painting with artists Theosone (Berlin), Milen Balbuzanov (Bulgaria), Horhay Design (Spain) and Calligrafreaks (Berlin).
Here’s to more of these design events returning to the Dublin design scene!
It’s great to see the book Hello Hinterland featured as part of Dublin Art Book Fair 2023: Polyphonic curated by Wendy Erskine. Hello Hinterland is a collection of illustrated stories and poetry celebrating the culture and heritage of Fingal County on the east coast of Ireland, written by Martin Holohan, and illustrated and designed by Clare Lynch Creative.
Polyphonic, launched on 7th December 2023, runs in Temple Bar Gallery + Studios from 8 December – 17 December 2023. Dublin Art Book Fair, Ireland’s leading art book fair and centre for artist books presents its thirteen edition. Taking place in Temple Bar Gallery + Studios over ten days, DABF champions small, creative and independent publishers, and both Irish and international artist books. Within this mix, over 500 newly published and unusual publications on art, design, visual culture, philosophy, architecture, select fiction and poetry will feature alongside a special selection of nominated books by Guest Curator Wendy Erskine.
Wendy Erskine’s theme Polyphonic, is celebrated further through a programme of talks, readings, workshops, book events and participatory events. Interested in the innumerable viewpoints, stories or perspectives that can originate from single source, Erskine’s theme, Polyphonic celebrates the creation of artwork that brings multiple voices together.
Amazing News! Clare Lynch Creative been shortlisted in the IDI Irish Design Awards in two different categories. In the Packaging Design category for @agoodmoodfood.ie and also in the Book Illustration category for the recently launched illustrated poetry book ‘Hello Hinterland‘. Such exciting news!
Thanks very much to @idi_ireland. Brilliant news to receive!
The IDI (Irish Design Institute) host the Irish Design Awards ceremony annually, which celebrate and reward the best of Irish designers, nurturing the talent of the future and setting creative benchmarks for the industry.
Looking forward to the Awards Night Ceremony in the Marker Hotel on 17th November 2022 🙂
Really excited for the upcoming launch event for a book I illustrated, ‘Hello Hinterland’. The event will take place at Hodges Figgis Waterstones on Dawson Street, Dublin 2 on 28th April 2022 from 6-8pm.
Hello Hinterland is a collection of illustrated stories and poetry celebrating the culture and heritage of Fingal county on the east coast of Ireland, written by Martin Holohan. It’s colourful illustrations make it appealing to children, but it is a book for adults also, we want it to be enjoyed by everyone.
It was a pleasure to work on our first book together, from start to finish to this launch event. Martin is a charismatic person and writer. He gave me the freedom to work on the illustrations without direction, inspired by his writing. I then put the book design layout together using my graphic design skills, and we worked to get a quality hard-back print. Hopefully everyone will enjoy reading the book as much as we enjoyed creating it.
It is available to be purchased at Hodges Figgis (Waterstones) bookstore on Dawson Street (Dublin 2) and on their online store, Tales 4 Tadpoles bookstore on Drury Street (Dublin 2) and will be rolling out to a range of other bookstores in Dublin and Ireland in the coming months. It can also be ordered online from the book publisher Choice Publishing.
It was great to be part of the group illustration exhibition recently in Filmbase, Temple Bar in Dublin city centre. There was lots of excitement with putting up our framed art after a year of hard work in developing our illustration style leading to all the prep work involved preparing for an exhibition. There was a huge turn-out on the opening night, everyone agreed it was a great success.
The theme I chose was the wonder of the Tower of Babel – the story of how we all ended up speaking different languages. The concept shows the confusion that followed the collapse of the tower in the story where everyone began speaking different languages, with the tongue-tiedness that the language barrier brought. I featured some of the earliest forms of communication – ancient hieroglyhics and pictograms – in a bright and modern graphic way, using gouache colours that pop. I went on to show how language and communication has developed to today – where we use smiley faces and hand gestures to communicate which work through all languages. I enjoyed researching this theme, learning about the Rosetta stone and Egyptian hieroglyphics. There are some beautiful symbols used among all the languages and, although it would be simpler if we all spoke the one language, I would hate to see such individuality and beauty of each language’s unique symbols and form of communicating ever to become extinct.
One of the advantages of the location was that during the week, there was still a lot of visitors popping in as the artworks are displayed in the windows of Filmbase and attract plenty of passers-by and art lovers. Many of us had our own pop-up shops selling our giclee prints and greeting cards, which still continued to attract interest throughout the week.
My greeting cards and prints are available to purchase on Etsy at:
Looking forward to the exhibition of the illustration course I have been attending over the last year. It’s on in Filmbase in Temple Bar, Dublin 2, opening 6.30pm on the 6th June and continuing until 10th June. It’s been great fun to be part of and I’ve met some really talented and friendly people along the way.
There’s a pop-up shop selling our giclee prints and greeting cards also. Come along and check out all the great work.
Poster artwork by Virginia Fiorini, graphic design by Fintan Wall.
