The pandemic provided the spur that led ceramicist Sinead O’Toole to start her own business.

She’d been working as a mentor for Canadian e-commerce company Shopify when Covid hit, which prompted Sinead to follow her creative dream.

The Forge Clay Studio on New Street, off Mill Street in Galway City – of which she was a member – had closed due to Government restrictions. And so, Sinead began making jewellery from the kitchen of her Woodquay home with a tiny, basic kiln she bought off eBay for about €400.

Initially, “I was just trying to kill time” and “I was just messing about” making small pieces of jewellery, she said. But soon trade took off, and Cré Rua Ceramics was born.

“With the pandemic, people weren’t going to shops and buying things. So, I set up a website, and that worked quite well. It was a good time to start an online business,” said the 37-year-old.

Since then, she moved to Rosscahill initially, and then further out to Oughterard where she has invested in a purpose-built studio and a “proper” kiln.

Caption: Sinead O’Toole in her studio in Oughterard. Photo: Joe O’Shaughnessy.

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