When and why did the two of you set up your business?
We have always been passionate about interiors. However, it all began with an Instagram account that we set up seven years ago.
I had just bought a dilapidated Victorian house in Glenbrook and decided to start an Instagram page tracking the progress of the renovation, as well as posting pictures of Catherine’s completed self-build – Creek Cottage in Monkstown – which coincidentally was featured in Irish Country Living a few years back.
From that, people began enquiring about our services and shortly after my second child Juliette was born, I made the decision to not return to my corporate job and together we moved full-time into the word of interior design.
Have you always been creative people or is this something that happened over time?
Our mother is an amazing painter and cook and was forever doing up our house as kids.
She studied art at the Crawford School of Art in Cork. Her grandmother was a miliner.
Catherine is also a very talented painter. We both also loved art in school. I’ve always had a huge interest in graphic design and creative advertising.
Catherine is a classically trained chef and the way she presents food is an art form in itself.
So, really, creativity abounds everywhere in how we approach life – be it in gardening, cooking, interiors and simple things like how to arrange flowers in a vase and setting a table.
Can you tell me about your new collection?
The new arm of our business developed quite organically. Anytime we would post a picture of a bespoke ottoman or headboard from one of our client’s homes on Instagram, we would get inundated with people asking us where they could buy them from and people would often ask if we could commission a piece especially for them.
So, based on that, we decided to create our very own range of ottomans, headboards and cushions using fabrics we adore from some really special artisan designers.
We wanted them to be available immediately to customers, to remove lead times and to be really special high-quality pieces.
So we spent months and months working on prototypes with various upholsterers until we were fully satisfied that the product we have now launched is of really high quality, handmade here in Ireland using some very exclusive fabrics that aren’t really offered by any other shops in Ireland – such as Rapture and Wright, Jessica Osbourne, Christopher Farr and Olive & Daisy.
Nothing in our collection is a standalone piece. We have designed everything to match one another.
So if you buy a darling blush headboard, we will suggest a range of our cushions that will co-ordinate beautifully with it.
Similarly, if you buy a savannah ottoman, we have a huge number of cushions that will work for your sofa - so that you get a complete designer look, without the cost of hiring a designer to complete the room for you!
It is inspired by our love of layering bold patterns and colours together and seeing them work in perfect harmony and of course our love of the coast.
What is your biggest creative or business achievement to date?
Launching our own range of Irish-made furniture using fabrics from designers we have long admired has been so rewarding.
It has been full of challenges, with many mountains to climb and we had to show a lot of resilience and determination to get it over the finish line.
We have dealt with price increases from suppliers, protypes not being right, changing upholsters, fabric lead times being huge.
We also lost our darling dad in the middle of it all last summer after a long battle with cancer, so to have been able to pick ourselves back up and hit the ground running to launch our own product within a few months of that feels very rewarding and we know he would be immensely proud.
To see more of Eadaoin and Catherine's work, see pebbleandsash.com.