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Speech at the Opening of the Weathering Exhibition

UCCA Gallery, Beijing, 8th December 2014

I am delighted to be here today at the Weathering Exhibition, to not only celebrate the beautiful work on display in this gallery, but to recognise and pay tribute to the many talented Irish designers and craftworkers who enhance our reputation across the globe as a nation renowned for creativity and artistic achievement.

It is a reputation of which we are very proud; and I am delighted that next year will see ‘Irish Design 2015’ undertake the greatest single initiative ever focused on Irish design – allowing us to demonstrate and promote all that is best about our contemporary craftsmanship in many different forms. I am greatly pleased to be the Patron of this initiative, which will place imagination and design at the centre of things where they belong.

The combination of aesthetic and functional form on display here today recalls a great period in Irish artistic and religious history, when there was no division between beauty and utility. This combination visible in many beautiful things now being crafted using such a wide range of materials and processes is also one that reflects contemporary Ireland, and that contributes to the creativity of the design and craft community.

Ireland shares with China a strong sense of connection with our ancient traditions of craft and design. China’s continuous civilisation over four millennia has been a great vehicle for handing down the traditions of this great country. In the same way, one of the features that mark the uniqueness of the Irish people, that has allowed us to survive over millennia, and now enables us to face the future and its challenges with optimism, is our sense of connectedness to a continually evolving culture that embraces music, the spoken and written word, as well as our craft and design. What better place than Beijing to celebrate such things?

In Ireland our heritage and culture is deeply embedded in crafted objects: artefacts such as the Book of Kells or the magnificent Celtic Tara Brooch are not only symbolically rich, but are also exquisitely rendered crafted objects that carry great meaning for all citizens of Ireland; they are work, beauty, heritage and timelessness.

As with all art forms, craftmanship connects us, in a profound way, to our past and to all that is best about that past. The work we view here today is a powerful combination of artistic vision, contemporary influence and deep ties to a rich and creative heritage.

It is inspired by the weathering of the island of Ireland by the Atlantic Ocean, and the rugged and beautiful landscape this creates. It is created by craftspeople who, through a gentler form of weathering, work with local materials to reflect their sense of place and produce functional objects which combine contemporary ideas with traditional techniques.

Each of the beautiful objects on display here today represents a moment of inspiration; and the different combinations of insight, stimulation and revelation which inspired each individual work are as unique as the objects themselves.

I would like to conclude by thanking the Irish Embassy for their support in making today’s event happen. May I also thank all of you for welcoming me to the UCCA Gallery with such warmth and enthusiasm. It is indeed appropriate that this celebration which so effectively blends the creative and the operative be held here, in the heart of the 798 Arts District. The interplay between functionality, form and high art that is evident in this exhibition is, of course, a feature of this built environment which was designed to house factories, machinery and production lines and is now the perfect home for design, creativity, and imagination.

I would also like to wish all of our designers every success as they continue to imagine and shape and craft beautiful objects, reflecting, not just our rich Irish heritage, our active engagement in a contemporary and global society, but also their own imaginative powers and instincts.

Thank you very much.