Kilkenny Design Workshops (KDW) was a state-supported Irish design body founded in 1963 by Córas Tráchtála, the Irish Export Board, to improve the design quality of Irish manufactured products for export markets. Housed in the former stables of Kilkenny Castle, the workshops opened in 1965 with studios for ceramics, textiles, metalwork, woodworking and graphics, and operated until state support was withdrawn in 1988. [1]
Design and History
The KDW logo was designed by the Irish painter Louis le Brocquy (1916-2012), who was invited to join the first board of directors of the workshops. [2] The mark is described as a “double KK” logotype, referencing the initials of Kilkenny. [3] Sources differ on the design date: some attribute it to 1963, [3] while the Digital Repository of Ireland, which holds a black-and-white print of the logo from the KDW archive at the National Irish Visual Arts Library, records it as designed in 1965. [4]
The logo was applied to all KDW designs and was also used by manufacturers on products designed for them by the workshops. [2] Its simple, graphic style was consistent with the modern outlook of the workshops, and stamped on a bowl or pot it served as a sign of quality product and good design. [5]
In 2013, the Crafts Council of Ireland and the National Craft Gallery commissioned a contemporary identity for the IDEATE festival, held to mark the 50th anniversary of KDW’s establishment. That identity deliberately mirrored the “Double K” KDW logotype, drawing on the heritage of the original mark. [3]
Meaning and Symbolism
The “Double K” form of the logo derives from the initials of Kilkenny, the city where the workshops were based. [3] Beyond this direct reference, the mark’s documented significance lies in its function as a quality indicator: its simple graphic style aligned with the workshops’ modern design philosophy, and its presence on products signalled that the item met KDW’s design standards. [5]
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