A little lockdown project that grew into Beatrice Rose Design

Sometimes a completely unexpected chapter can lead to something you never planned.

At the very beginning of lockdown, in December 2019, a decision was made to move home to Kilkenny after almost a decade living in Belfast. With Brexit on the horizon and so much uncertainty about what the following year would bring, it felt like the right time to come home and start a new chapter. What followed was rather different from the new beginning that had been imagined.


The upheaval of such a major life change, followed by lockdown, isolation, being a stranger in your hometown and the uncertainty of those years, took its toll on mental health. But it also created space to finally pursue something that had always been there: creativity.


An artist since before learning to walk, drawing and making things had always been a constant. During this time, a postgraduate qualification in Graphic Design was also completed — initially simply to have the qualification — but graduating with First Class Honours turned out to be a huge personal achievement and a much-needed boost in confidence and morale.

Then came the drawing.


What began as a way to channel energy, stay creative and have something positive to focus on gradually became a collection of original designs. Ideas developed, and little by little, something that had started as a lockdown project began to take on a life of its own.


And eventually, Beatrice Rose Design was born.

There's a story behind the name too!

Beatrice Rose was my grandmother — and a “bomb girl” during the Second World War. Her strength, spirit and story are at the heart of the name, giving the brand a connection to another generation of women who simply got on with things, whatever was happening around them.

That combination of old stories and modern humour has become part of what makes Beatrice Rose Design what it is today.

From the studio in Kilkenny, the products make their way out into the world through independent retailers, online customers and markets around Ireland, where Beatrice Rose Design regularly meets customers face-to-face.

There’s something particularly lovely about seeing someone pick up a product at a market, read it, laugh — and then immediately hand it to the person standing beside them.

Sustainability is woven into the way the business operates. Products are produced in small batches and made to order, helping to reduce unnecessary waste, while plastic-free packaging and 100% recyclable materials are used wherever possible.

. . .

From a lockdown idea to a growing Irish design business, Beatrice Rose Design is still rooted in the same thing it started with: making art, having a giggle and creating pieces worth giving, worth receiving and worth keeping.