Talented Sinead has designs on the world

Sinead graduated in 2006 with a Fashion Design degree from the Limerick School of Art and Design. The following summer, she did an internship with Europe's leading knitwear designer, Missoni, based in Milan, as part of her prize for the prestigious award of Best International Knitwear Collection at the Mittel Moda fashion competition (which had 12,000 entrants from 66 countries). The talented young designer, who says she has been interested in fashion "since forever", is now entering her third year in business. After two years of selling her original knitwear mainly through craft fairs and shows, she has just launched a brand new website, unveiling her beautifully original knitwear pieces and tailored clothing designs to the world. "Generally work in the fashion industry isn't readily available so I had to make it happen - and if you want something enough, you can," says Sinead. "I'm 25 and it's a good stage of life to be coming into your third year of business." While some of her friends from design college have sought out work in bigger urban centres, such as London, or gone on to further studies, Sinead, who has lived and worked in London, Limerick and Italy, was determined to create an opening at home. "I want to live in Killinere, and I'm making it work for me. A designer doesn't need to live in a big city," she says, "I need to visit other places, but my work is here. That makes it unique, the fact that someone is in a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere making original designer garments." The designer, who works in a private farmhouse studio next to her family home, loves working for herself, but takes her responsibilities seriously. "I wouldn't be anywhere else. I love that I can sit and get my work done, have no hassle and not sit in traffic. I wanted to be a designer and make clothes that people can wear, and I get to do that. There is a pressure with that as well, though," she says, citing commitments and concerns like meeting deadlines and irregular income. Ambitious, and with her head firmly screwed on, Sinead has already caught the tail-end of the boom and the pit of recession in her short time so far in self-employment. "I'm exactly two years in business. My first year was a fantastic year, and I was very busy with orders through shops and direct to customers. The second year, buyers were far more cautious about parting with money for new stock," she notes. But Sinead has been busily knitting and stitching up a future for her young company. She has brought out her new website (sineadclarke.com or essenc.ie), where people can view and buy her knitwear and new collection of tailored clothing. "With my new website, I can reach anyone, anywhere in the world with my products. People can check out the site, and if they're local can come down to the studio after and try things on." Her label was formerly Sinéad Ní Chléirigh, but is now EssenC. Pronounced S 'n' C, it is a play on her initials. For the past two years, she's developed her range of knitwear accessories and clothing, such as hats, scarves, gloves, arm-warmers, handbags coats, jackets and ponchos. With diverse colours, shapes and styles, the accessories appeal to age-groups from teenagers up to the over 70s, while the beautiful knitted coats, jackets and ponchos are aimed at the 30-plus age group. Sinead has also diversified into designing non-knitted clothing. "This is a brand new clothing range," she says enthusiastically. "This range is tailored clothing, with woven fabric, rather than knitted. I design it and do sampling and drawing at the studio, and the manufacturing is outsourced." The new tailored range is a small collection of nine garments, including a skirt, blouse, dresses and coats. A limited edition, only a small number of each garment has been made. "The idea is that someone can buy a nice tailored dress and accessorise it with a soft knit, for example a scarf, a wrap or coat," says Sinead.With her busy season approaching, Sinead has a packed diary of fairs and events, and couldn't be happier. "I'm busy making things like mad for an abundance of events. I'll also be working on a new collection for Autumn/Winter 2010 which will be exhibited at Showcase Ireland in the RDS next January. I had an open house at my studio last year and it went so well I'm having three this year: one in November and two in December." Open house weekends at Sinead Clarke's farmhouse studio in Killinkere are on: November 21 and 22, December 12 and 13, and December 19 and 20. The studio will be open 11am-6pm. For details of forthcoming fairs and events in Cavan, Dublin, Cork and at the National Ploughing Championships, see essenc.ie or sineadclarke.com.