Health, Beauty and Lifestyle with Denise McNamara

A Barna fashion designer and retailer has been selected for the second time by Ireland’s high end department store to celebrate heritage, craft and sustainable design. Thread in Time, the latest collection from Emerald & Wax, will feature in the Irish designers showcase in Brown Thomas’ flagship store on Dublin’s Grafton Street from July 29 to August 11.

The brainchild of Virtue Shine, the collection of handmade jackets, kimonos and trousers draws inspiration from her homeland of Ghana, specifically the symbolic Adinkra motifs. Adinkra are ancient symbols that reflect how people communicated and are also proverbs.

“This collection is a celebration of heritage and continuity,” she reveals.

“Through incorporating bold colours and intricate patterns, the collection explores how fashion can carry forward ancestral narratives while embracing modern identities. So that each garment in the collection strives to tell a story about a journey of migration, motherhood, artistry and purpose.”

Virtue met her husband from Dublin in New York, and they decided to move to Galway with their young family over a decade ago.

She was a member of a craft cooperative based in Galway city when a customer approached her, saying her daughter had a retail unit in Barna that could suit her.

“The timing was just right. I always knew I wanted to be in a physical space; I just didn’t think it was something that would ever happen,” she explains.

“I co-owned that shop in Barna for about three years and when the lease come up for renewal, I knew it was time to move on. I had originally planned to take some time off from running a bricks and mortar business to focus on my online store.

“But as luck – or the universe would have it – a long-time customer of mine was opening a new wellness hub in Barna just minutes away from my previous shop and she wanted me to set up a retail unit within the hub. It took three months of convincing before I said yes. Luckily it was the right decision.

“I didn’t realise how much my customers had missed me and vice versa. I had created a community, and I guess I had a responsibility to be present.”

Getting to the stage where she was able to open a retail shop was exceptionally difficult, Virtue recalls.

“There are some supports out there, but they are difficult to navigate and unfortunately often don’t pan out to anything concrete. A lot more could be done to help small business owners particularly those that are in the creative space.

Pictured: The creator of Emerald & Wax, Virtue Shine, who handmakes unique African inspired kimonos, jackets and trousers that will last a lifetime.