Kilkenny Group to craft a bright new future in the city

THE Kilkenny Group’s deal to buy the Kilkenny Design Centre has given the group a presence for the first time city that gives it its name.

Kilkenny Group, controlled by Cork-based Marian O’Gorman and her children, is buying the design complex opposite  from leading local businesswoman Kathleen Moran, who recently announced her retirement after establishing the Design Centre as one of the most iconic brands in the country over 30 years.

The deal with Kilkenny Group reunites the State’s original Kilkenny design workshops, first established by the government to showcase Irish crafts in the 1960s before they were sold off by the State in the 1980s.

Kilkenny Group, then a part of Blarney Woollen Mills, bought the Dublin store that is isnow its Nassau Street flagship, while Ms Moran opened her business in 1988 on the site of the original design workshop.

The recent transaction includes the foodhall, craft centre and  Anocht, one of the city’s most popular fine dining restaurants.

Kilkenny Group says it intends to continue operating the whole design centre complex in Castle Yard in the heart of the city.

Kilkenny Design Centre is owned by Ms Moran and her family and employs about 59 staff. According to its most recent set of accounts, it made a profit last year of about €175,000.

“We at Kilkenny are privileged to welcome Kilkenny Design team retail store and restaurant into our company,” Ms O’Gorman was reported as saying in The Irish Times.

“We look forward to enhancing the Irish craft and design industry together with our new colleagues.”