KLD Directors Róísín Lafferty and Becky Russell recently headed to Mullan village in Co. Monaghan to visit world class lighting designers Mullan Lighting at their factory to help them celebrate ten years in business. Becky kept a diary of the day so welcome to A Day in the Life of Becky Russell, KLD Associate Director.
A couple of weeks back, on a beautiful sunny morning in Mullan Lighting in a remote village near the border in Co. Monaghan. We are there to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the lighting company which has gone from strength to strength with their lights gracing ceilings and walls across the world.
To celebrate the ten years in business and KLD were invited to the factory along with a host of other designers and journalists to find out more about the fascinating story of Mullan Lighting. Also in attendance was Monaghan TD and Minister for Business, Enterprise, and Innovation Heather Humphreys.
We were greeted by the very warm and welcoming team including Mike and Edel Treanor and led into the old Mill building. Mike Treanor set up the business in an abandoned mill in 2009 and now ten years later, Mullan Lighting is the biggest employer in the village, employing 65 people, many of whom live in restored mill houses.
After warm words on the company and a brief history lesson on the work they have done over the last 10 years it was time for a tour of Mullan Lighting.
We follow the journey of a new light from Mullan receiving the order through the bespoke design department and then through the different logistical and manufacturing departments and finally through packing and labelling! At each stage a member of the Mullan team talked us through the process, the craft and the careful planning and consideration that makes the process seamless end efficient.
After this it was time to put us to work!! We carefully designed and selected the components of our very own pendant and started the process of assembling it under the instructive and watchful eye of one of the Mullan team.
We were taken through each step of assembly, wiring, teasing the finished product, packing and labelling it so it was ready for us to take home and install in our own homes.
While I mastered the wiring I do not yet have the speed of finesse that the Mullan team have when assembling all the little parts but we got there in the end and the finished product is a beautiful industrial pendant in powder coated mint with twisted burgundy cord and brass fittings!!
What a fantastic day, and such a nice touch to assemble our very own Mullan Light.
An incredible success story, Mullan Lighting has gone from strength to strength and will double in size with the estimated creation of 30 jobs over the next two years.
Mullan Lighting has been a firm favourite of KLD’s throughout the years and has featured in many of our projects. We wish them good luck with their next ten years and beyond.