Page 27 - Our Wexford

PAUL

MALONEY

– Potter

for the casual visitor as well as for boot space to load up with pottery influence coming from simple
those secondary markets in many and art. things like “walking on the many
of our large towns and cities. “It doesn’t take them long to find beaches in Wexford and watching
Just some of the places where us and they’re good customers,” the changing coastline”.
the pieces can be found include the man himself says. “Most of Visitors to the website can also
Dublin, Cork, Kilkenny, Foxford the customers who come into the find stunning photographs of
in County Mayo, Galway, Sligo, shop would be locals and Irish some of Paul’s work, such as items
and historic Kells in Co Meath holidaymakers. The shop accounts from his collections of pottery
and Cashel in County Tipperary. for about half of our sales and the like the Sea Breeze collection, the
Not to mention, down the road, other half would be selling into Ocean collection and the Red
Barker’s on South Main Street in the likes of Kilkenny Design and Earth collection.
Wexford town.
Carrig Donn.”
Paul Maloney is originally from Unlike many other small
businesses in Ireland, Paul
Wexford and graduated from the Maloney Pottery rode through the
renowned National College of Art THE POTTERY HAS recession and came out the other
and Design. He worked as an art MODERN FLUID side, although that wasn’t without
teacher as well as for a number its cost. “It hit us in 2008, we had
of other potteries before going LINES, WITH MUCH nine people in total working here
out on his own in 1998. During INFLUENCE COMING and two weeks later we had five
the intervening years, he’s never FROM SIMPLE THINGS working here so it wasn’t as bad
regretted that decision nor has for me as it was for them. It hit us
he ever wished he’d established like a sledgehammer and we had
his own business in a different There are even some shops in to take action straightaway. But,
location. “Wexford is good, it’s the United States who like to having said that, we’re probably
here in the sunny southeast and stock Paul’s products, while the a lot more efficient now. I’ve
we get a lot of Dublin people internet has naturally enough complained less in the last few
down. It suits us really well. started to make inroads into years than I did during the Celtic
Dublin people like to spend their his business, with an increasing Tiger years!”
money with us and they appreciate number of orders coming via his
their pottery and their crafts.” Many of his products, such as
paulmaloneypottery.ie website. giftware, held their own during
Wexford has always been a place That website points out that the difficult times - “people still TOP:
Paul Maloney at
where those living in the capital, all of the items of tableware had to buy presents” - while others work in his studio
and indeed other parts of the and giftware are made using fell off somewhat, and today
country, like to holiday, and many traditional hand methods, with visitors to the craft shop or website
return again and again every year, everything in the pottery section can see that the quality remains
often to their own holiday homes.
hand-thrown on the potter’s wheel untouched.
Such tourists are a frequent sight and then finished off by hand, “Things are going well now,
at Paul’s workshop in Barntown, glazed and fired. This ensures actually,” he says with a note of
particularly in the summer everything is unique. confidence.
months, when they often arrive The pottery has “modern,
up in their cars and have plenty of
fluid lines,” he says, with much

OUR CRAFT 27