The kitchen dresser takes centre stage

The seed of inspiration for The Irish Dresser Project can be traced back to the mid-1970s when Michael Fortune spent his childhood living with his grandmother Jane in her cottage in Ballygarrett, on the Wexford coast. At the centre of her home was a simple, practical kitchen dresser.

In 2015, when his grandmother died aged 103, the Wexford-based artist and folklorist, who also runs folklore.ie, was spurred into action. The Irish Dresser Project was born.

“Folklore and stories are huge to me, so I suppose just looking at the ordinary lives of everyday people appealed to me,” he says.

“When Granny passed away, I felt I had been documenting her little house and dresser for years, and then I realised that there are other stories similar to this out there in peoples’ houses and sheds.”

Since then, he has documented over 250 dressers all over the country, the oldest of which dates back to the 1840s, telling their stories, their makers, and the social history attached through photos, words, and a film series on thedresserproject.ie.

There is great affection and comfort from the stories of life associated with the dressers, he says, many of whom were made as wedding presents by men from 1890 to 1940.

From his travels, Michael identified different regional styles, and sometimes even within counties like Mayo where those from the south of the county varied with the north. Others had messages or “little love hearts or symbols of love” or a “spinning wheel” carved at at the head of the dresser.

Michael, who is hoping to produce a book on the project in the future, is still keen to hear from people from the Ulster counties and Kerry, which are under-represented so far.

For the last five years, he has produced the sell-out Irish Dresser and Folklore calendar to showcase some of the stories he has collected. Here are some of Michael’s entries from his most recent calendars.

Séamus Carroll,

Derrinlough, Co Offaly

This dresser is just one of the hundreds of vernacular pieces collected by Séamus Carroll over the years. Although the dresser is now located in Co Offaly, it started off its life in Roscrea in north Tipperary, where he bought it.

As dressers go, this is an absolute beast, made from very heavy wood and nothing spared with regard to detail and decoration. The bottom shelf is stepped back; it does not have any drawers but instead has two large decorated doors.

The plates rest back on the dresser and are held in place with a small lath of wood, which is fixed to the shelves. It does not have removable plate laths and has an extra leg support in the middle due to the sheer weight of the dresser.

Pádraig Walsh,

Oughterard, Co Galway

Here is a great red dresser that I visited in September 2024. Another great example of an original dresser still in the home it was made for. Layers of paint and lovely fretwork on display. It is unusual as it has the large plates on the bottom shelf and a little low shelf for the mugs, which are as old as the dresser itself.

I love the oil cloth on it too, and this is something many older people would have had on their dressers right through the late 19th and 20th centuries. Pádraig’s family has been in this house since 1849 after the previous family left for America. The back of the dresser forms a partition wall to a really small bedroom.

Gerard O’Neill,

Ballon, Co Carlow

Here is a gorgeous dresser from Ballon in south Carlow, which belongs to Gerard O’Neill. This was Gerard’s family home, and he says the dresser was made in 1844 for the local priest who lived in the house. He also told me that at one stage the house was lived in by the Bishop of Kildare, Leighlin and Ossory.

My first impression was this dresser does not appear to be from the mid-1800s, but the date is clearly carved into the head of the dresser, and Gerard says he heard it was made by a travelling carpenter who also made the press beside it. It is a fantastic piece, and the selection of willow-pattern plates completes the scene.

Anne Russell,

Roscrea, Co Tipperary

I’ve waited years to come across a dresser like this. Not because of any regional design or who made it, but because it is part of the folklore of Ireland, where a house would be haunted and the conduit for these strange activities would take the form of a dresser, ie plates would fall off, mugs would dance, etc.

Growing up, I heard these stories, which were usually put down to the activities of ‘the fairies’. Anne is a natural storyteller, and she says all the strange and quare yokes that happened and about how it was blessed a ‘hape’ of times in her lifetime.

Anita Fennelly,

Ballinlaw, Co Kilkenny

Anita bought this dresser with her first wages when she started teaching in 1984. She bought it in Keighery Antiques, Waterford, and was told it was made in Callan, Co Kilkenny.

In the early years, it travelled with her from rented house to house in Horeswood, Campile, Dunganstown, Inistioge, and Mount Elliott. She calls the dresser ‘Agnes’ and when she moved into her own house, all she had was ‘Agnes’ and a mattress. She adores it.

Her interest in dressers was planted in childhood, getting eggs in Elizabeth Hawe’s thatched cottage in Coolagh, Callan. All she ever wanted when she grew up was a dresser, a half-door and hens.

See thedresserproject.ie