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Defined by design
MAKING beautifully handcrafted pieces of jewellery is a way of life for father and son, James Mary and Neil Kelly. It defines who they are. Here they talk to Sean Keane about their passion for what they do and how they achieve it.
THEY just can't help themselves. Whether it's walking down the street or just people watching, James Mary Kelly and his son Neil are always thinking about design and how to create jewellery of great elegance, along simple lines with great craft and love.
Both are master goldsmiths and describe their work as more a way of life than a profession. And it is not by accident that James Mary drifted into the career. His late father, Jimmy, was a sheet metal fabricator at Kilkenny Engineering Products and James Mary acknowledges that his father positively influenced the path he has taken in life.
When James Mary comes from behind the counter of his famous workshops in the Design Centre, opposite Kilkenny Castle, he sits down to talk about himself and what he has created. Almost immediately his mind starts to wander from the conversation and he starts sketching on the back of some computer paper. When this is brought to his attention he explains that he has been trying to come up with something different for a clasp on an aquamarine necklace he is in the process of making.
Son Neil is even worse. When he walks down the street and sees an angle that doesn't make since to him or a crooked shop sign, he stops to look at it more closely and then he wanders into another world of making rings and other beautiful things.
One of the best stories told about James Mary and his ongoing pursuit of perfection in jewellery design is when he is out and sees a woman coming towards him.
He's stares at her - not looking into her eyes or watching her figure, but gazing at her jewellery and seeing how it compares to his and how he could "improve" or adapt it and make it into another signature design piece for JMK goldsmiths.
The pieces produced by James Mary and his team are instantly recognisable because of their design and look. There is a secret to the success of the workshops – simple clean lines of design.
He is always pleasantly surprised when people say to him they can instantly recognise a piece of jewellery made by him or the team. "I suppose it's like writing a song the people who listen to it appreciate it more than the writer," he said.
As we speak, two customers come in and he leaves his seat to welcome them and to listen to what they want. In the background, Lyric FM is playing and within seconds he has them transfixed as he shows them examples of JMK work in the showcases on the wall. They are entranced and soon pick out exactly what they wanted.
James Mary, Neil, and master goldsmiths Anna Kelly, David Byrne and Mary Enright have enriched the life of Kilkenny and continue to bring much needed business to the city. They have added to the dynamic of the city and enhanced the city's reputation as a place of worth to be visited.
Many of the clients at JMK do not like their custom being made public and they have made pieces for the high and mighty as well as the famous. However these are not divulged. Instead a smile comes across James Mary's face. And there are the top secret jobs, like repairs to the Liam McCarthy Cup that officially didn't happen. He made the new Liam McCarthy Cup and is very proud of it.
The goldsmiths are a tight knit community and Neil's partner is the wonderful Marie Larrson a goldsmith with another wonderful artist-master craftsman Liam Costigan on Collier's Lane, off High Street. Their love story has a lot to do with the fact that as an apprentice, Liam Costigan when to Denmark where he served part of his apprenticeship. He made strong and lasting friendships there and when a colleague of Liam's suggested she go abroad for experience, it was to Liam they sent her.
A dynasty has been created at JMK which looks like moving into a third generation yet it all started by chance for James Mary, the one time long haired Fifth Degree band member. A school trip in 1967 led one of Kilkenny's most successful master craftsmen on a path in life from which he has never deviated.
His introduction came as a result of a school trip in 1967 when as an 18-year-old he visited the Kilkenny Design Workshops. A student at the City Vocational School, the day after the excursion he put in an application form to become an apprentice and was accepted. "I was interviewed by renowned goldsmith Rudolph Heltzel and he gave me my start," James Mary said appreciatively
"it was what I wanted to do, the minute I got in there and saw the gold and silversmiths working, I was drawn into it," he said.
He owes a lot to the creation of the Kilkenny Design Workshops in the early 1960s and the influx of highly skilled people into the local community.
He is sad there are not more people like him based at the workshops. He pointed out that more and more of the space is being used as storage and left empty. He appealed to the Kilkenny Civic Trust which runs the complex to encourage more producers of quality products to set up there.
For 17 years, James Mary had a presence on High Street, Kilkenny but he closed when the lease was up. No surprise that customers followed him up to the workshops. He has another five or six months of orders to fill before he has to begin to worry about the down-turn in the economy. And while there may be less money around it's more the negativity it creates which hits business.
Asked about the High Street experience, he said that the retailers and the local authority have to seriously look at pedestrianisation. "People want quality shopping and so we should give them what they want.
"Mother goes into as shop, the father goes for a coffee without traffic - It's perfect," he muses.
No article on the Kellys would be complete without mentioning Anna. As James's wife and Neil's mother she is often in the middle of discussions (rows) on creative differences.
She celebrated a significant birthday recently (60) and both men acknowledge her calming influence and her support. She still works one or two days a week and after a lifetime in retail, she is quick to put potential customers at ease and spot what people want.
The final word should be left to Neil Kelly who is asked to explain what being a goldsmith is like and why there dwells a deep, spiritual meaning to what they do at JMK. "It defines me as a person and I think it's the same for those around me, I think of things in terms of design and the reality I can create from it, it's just so much of what we are."
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Weather for Kilkenny
Tuesday 22 May 2012
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