The motivation behind the Wild Irish Kin

Wild Irish Kin was born from a lifelong love of design, storytelling, and making. After more than 30 years in marketing and communications - across agencies, running my own business, and in-house within the construction industry - I felt the need to create something more personal, more creative, and more connected to the things I love. 

Earlier this year, I stepped away from my corporate career to pursue a new path: building a family business rooted in design, engineering, craft and Irish heritage. Family is at the heart of Wild Irish Kin. My husband is a furniture maker, my mum a ceramic artist, my son an engineering student, and my dad — a retired engineer — is a master of machines. In retirement, he filled his workshop with tools and technology: 3D printers, laser cutters, a plasma cutter he built together with two engineering colleagues and more. But what he needed was focus — a creative challenge that put all that skill and machinery to use. That’s where Wild Irish Kin began. I started illustrating native Irish animals — the fox, hare, red squirrel, and more — inspired by the wildlife of the hedgerows and woodlands of Connemara, where I live. These illustrations soon grew into themed collections: Land, Sky, and Water, each with its own cast of Irish creatures. 

We experimented with many materials, from leather and slate to birch ply and tiles. But it was when we translated these designs into metal sculptures that everything clicked. With my dad’s knowledge of metals, my husband’s experience in small-batch production, my son’s skills in prototyping and 3D printing, my mum’s guiding design eye, and my own love of design, we realised how these pieces could live outdoors. Our Wild Irish Kin metal sculptures bring Irish wildlife and Celtic heritage into people’s homes and gardens. 

Wild Irish Kin is more than a business. It is a creative collaboration across generations of our family — an exploration of design, craft and heritage that we are proud to share with you.