Tag: ireland

Create a beautiful in season Irish wild flower bouquet…

We are thinking all things flowers this week with the sunny weather (spells) and the launch of Super Garden on RTE1.

We here at KLD adore wild flower bouquets,  with each bouquet unique with it’s natural beauty and a touch of rustic elegance.

The experts at Appassionata flowers recently created a stunning wild flower bouquet for us for a photoshoot and it got us thinking on how to recreate this using in season Irish wild flowers which are right on our doorsteps.

The gorgeous wild flower bouquet from Appassionata Flowers.

There is a great website called wild flowers of Ireland which keeps you up to date on flowers which are in season at the moment. We have picked some of our favourites from here  that are currently in season to create your own wild flower bouquet.

OUR FAVOURITES

Cowslip – A yellow-orange flower which has been noticeably absent for sometime but thankfully is making a come back. It can be found on roadsides and pastures.

Bluebell – Purple-blue in colour these are one of the most beautiful sights we see in our woodlands and over grassy banks. They can be found from April onwards each year.

Fringe Cups – These greenish-white flowers are beautiful fragrant flowers which flower in April and May. They are most unusual long steamed flowers which can grow up to 800mm high.

Fumaria Muralis – A tubular pink flower which is commonly found and seen as a garden weed. These flowers are a beautiful shade of pink with deep purple tips.

Summer Snowflake – A snow-white bell shaped flower which seems to hide in clusters in the shade of damp, riverside meadows. The summer snowflake flowers in April – May.

Marsh Violet – A five  heart-shaped petaled flower which is lilac in colour blooms in Ireland from April through to July. It can grow up to 150mm high and can be found throughout Ireland in acid blogs, marshy ground and damp woodlands.

Common Mouse-ear – A small white flower with a green stem which flowers from April to November. The Common Mouse-ear is frequently found on roadsides, disturbed ground and gardens.

TOPTIPS

• Choose a range of weedy long steamed greens to mix in with the flowers, this will bulk out the bouquet and give it that wild unique look.
• Try to find nice bright coloured flowers like yellows and pinks, this will make the bouquet pop with colour.
• If you prefer to leave it up to the experts we would highly recommend Appassionata flowers for all your flowering needs

My name is Ridhi and I am a new addition to the KLD team! I am originally from India and Ireland has now been my home for the last 10 years.

I have always been a people person; wanting to know more about what makes the people of a place tick, the story behind their way of life, the culture of a place that reflects in everything and everyone. I love to travel- going to new places to discover the lesser known spots and mingling with locals.

My passion was taken to a whole new level when I got married and moved to Ireland. It was an entirely different culture, one that took a bit of time getting used to. But soon I understood that beneath the Irish accent the people here were not much different from the ones I was brought up amongst.

I found my comfort zone and a few wonderful friends who made the cultural divide disappear, bonding over lunches, coffees and marathon laughter sessions. The next phase in my life started when I started my first job in Dublin, with its ALL male team.

It was unlike anything I have ever experienced before, and they did everything to make me feel comfortable and welcome. In no time, I was one of the lads. But on the work front, I craved a challenge, and design was something that had always fascinated me. When I got an opportunity to join KLD, I was on cloud nine, although with some nerves in regards to making a smooth transition.

The warm environment put me at ease instantly and I love straightforwardness in which I can approach just about anybody. As this new chapter begins, I can feel a spring in a step. Sign of an auspicious start, as my mother would put it back home.

In terms of personal interests, I am fascinated by photography. I have always wanted to learn the processes behind it but being a ‘mom on the run’ surely doesn’t help. It has limited my skills to adding filters on Instagram on a mediocre iPhone photo!

Apart from following the work of photographers of international repute, what really catches my fancy is some of my friends’ work. Their work constantly reinforces why photography intrigues me.

Ronan Considine is a friend based in Canada. I enjoy looking at his series as he is always able to see such detail and potential in his subjects. He has the ability to let people enjoy his perception, which our eyes would miss otherwise.

Below are a few more from another friend Ashish Chopra, based in India, whose account I follow religiously on Instagram.

He loves to capture things everyday sights that could be perceived as mundane, yet through his lens these sights are given a whole new life.

I feel photography is how you perceive your subject and you need to be able to see from your head and heart. Two photographers could capture the same scene and the results could be two amazingly beautiful works of art.

So, here’s to making the most of our unique ways of life!

Last Thursday, January 14th, the RHA Gallery held their New Year Exhibition opening.

The incredible featured works included:

Mick O’Dea, The Foggy Dew

David Farrell, Before, During, After…Almost

Maeve McCarthy, The Return

HUT Project Part II: Jonathan Mayhew, All Flowers In Time

O’Dea’s impressive thirteen feet high paintings reflect upon a revolutionary history in commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising centennial; historic images capturing the zeitgeist of the War of Independence.

Farrell’s factual photographs also pay homage to 1916, depicting its effects from the 60s onwards that portray the immense social and political change that occurred through out the country. 

His diverse images encapsulate the vernacular of the time with themes including religion and rural identity. A special event held on February 10th at 6pm, lead by Director Patrick T. Murphy, will discuss the collective photographic essay. 

McCarthy’s work explores her relationship with a shared home in her family in Northern Ireland: charcoal drawings of nighttime landscapes evoked from memories of summer vacations to the farm prior to The Troubles, when it was then sold.

Mayhew’s work investigates the transient nature of people’s perceptions of surroundings, suggesting that what is considered as pleasing may just be a result of sugarcoated memories.

Check out these brilliant exhibitions at RHA Gallery until February 21st.

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday:
11.00am – 5.00pm

Wednesday LATE night opening:
11.00am – 8.00pm

Sunday:
12.00pm – 5.00pm

Admission to RHA Gallery is free!

On July 2nd 2015, we would like to invite you all to join Kingston Lafferty Design for a jazzy night of music, food and drinks in aid of Ataxia Ireland. From 7pm in the RDS Concert Hall there will be a food and drinks reception followed by a live concert by French jazz band Le Trio Gershwin, who will be flown in especially from Paris for the night.

The concert, which is be hosted by one of our client’s Ecocem, aims to raise funds for Ataxia Ireland’s 2015 Respite Week. This respite week is vital to both people living with Ataxia and their families, as it provides important emotional and physical support. Unfortunately due to recent cuts in the charity’s funding the respite week is at risk of not going ahead this year so fund raising events are more important than ever.

There are many different forms of Ataxia, one of which is Friedrich’s Ataxia. Friedrich’s Ataxia is an illness we are very familiar with, that has affected a good friend of ours. It is a very difficult degenerative condition that affects young teens and hugely impacts their quality of life, only getting worse over time. It is currently without a cure. Any money funded in order to help people suffering from this illness is hugely necessary and greatly appreciated.

When Ecocem asked us at Kingston Lafferty Design to get involved we were delighted to design the poster and invitations. Drawing on inspiration from Parisian design, vintage Jazz graphics and Art Deco fonts we got into graphic design mode to create a poster to help promote the event.

To capture the feel of the evening we wanted to go back to old Parisian style graphic design with a vintage, jazzy feel. The combination of colour, texture, fonts and silhouettes really encapsulates the atmosphere of an old Parisian Jazz Club.

Tickets for the event are €20.00 and are on sale at www.ataxia-concert.eventbrite.ie. Corporate packages for the night are also available, for more information contact RSVP@ecocem.ie or call 01-6781830.

Looking forward o seeing you all there on the night!