Background Influences

It's a long story! My Mother, Trudi is an artist and my Father, John, a writer and business man: I was brought up in an artistic but also business driven household.....and it seemed to have had some influence on me!

Study and Experience

I studied Fashion Design in the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, travelled the world, worked in the Fashion Industry in Ireland and Australia for 4 years returning in 2001 to work as a Graphic Designer in Dublin.

Working at a desk all day did not fulfil my creative needs and each evening I worked on creative projects which lead me to millinery; making small fascinators and headpieces for friends and family attending weddings and racing festivals.

The Millinery Journey

In 2003 I happily accepted a redundancy from my graphic design job and took a scary 'leap of faith' into being self employed.

From this point on I created a collection of hats and headpieces, supplied 32 boutiques around Ireland and showcased my work at many racing festivals and trade shows.

In 2005 one of my Hats was worn by a young TV presenter to Galway Races where the hat was selected for Best Hat Award out of thousands of entrants. From that point onwards my designs won multiple Best Dressed/Best Hat awards at Racing festivals all around Ireland. I worked happily for many years on private commissions for weddings and racing events.

In 2008 my business had to adapt to rapidly changing economic conditions and having been contacted on many occasions about teaching Millinery, I finally embraced the idea!

From that point onwards my entire focus was on teaching classes and workshops; from there a secondary business developed; designing and supplying Hat Blocks to all of the burgeoning milliners.

The classes, workshops and hat block business expanded rapidly and in 2018 I moved to a new studio space. Everything was wonderful until March 2020 when Covid hit!

With all in-person classes cancelled I engaged with my students through social media and recorded a series of 1 hour millinery workshops that kept my business afloat during this time.

The next chapter...

In 2023 my life changed in many ways. I returned to Trinity College Dublin to study a developing interest in Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship. My father and I bought and renovated an old bank so that I would have a purpose built space for workshops. But the building took over!

There was a demand for office and therapy spaces in the locality which we embraced; there was a beautiful bright corner unit that deserved to be more than an office and we opened a unique little coffee shop selling only locally sourced Art and Craft.

Because of all the new business activity, my primary business, Millinery (after 21 years) has been pared back to Hat Blocks, Recorded Workshops and Flower Crown group activity workshops.

I hope that you can find what you are looking for here and I am happy to help if you have a query,

Niav