Meet the makers: Women in Cork continuing crafts learned from their families

This August is Cork Craft Month, an annual festival now in its 17th year, celebrating traditional and contemporary craftmanship through a variety of events across the city and county.

The festival is organised by Cork Craft & Design, a social enterprise that represents more than 110 professional artists and craftspeople.

Ava Hayes, Festival Director of Cork Craft Month, says this year’s programme “offers more opportunities than ever for people to discover new skills, meet makers and experience the creativity, expertise and passion that goes into handmade work.”

While the festival introduces the public to new crafts every year, for some artists, craftmanship is in the blood, passed down through generations. Clonakilty-based Reham Ghafraji is one such crafter. Originally from Syria, Reham moved to Ireland with her family in 2017, working as a beauty therapist until covid struck.

“During the pandemic, salons were closed and I lost my job,” Reham recalls. “This was one my hardest moments, but it actually allowed me back to my roots.”

These roots are in the tradition of soap-making, a skill that has been passed down through Reham’s maternal family.

“I am a third-generation soap-maker,” she explains. “It’s one of my happiest childhood memories, watching my family make soap. I remember the wonderful smell of olive oil and fresh soap. Watching them cut every single bar by hand. When I was watching this, I never realised that I too would be a soap maker in the future.”

During lockdown, Reham started to make soap for herself, her friends, and her neighbours. They were a hit.

“They encouraged me to start my own business,” recalls Reham. “And yes, I’m here six years now, full-time soap-making!”

Her company, Soap & More, creates soaps that blend her Syrian heritage with a love of Irish nature and produce. She uses extra virgin olive oil mixed with ingredients like beeswax, goat’s milk and honey, which she sources from local farms.

“It’s a lovely combination between the Syrian heritage and the Irish landscape and nature,” says Reham. “But there is a small difference between the market in Syria and here in Ireland. When I first started soap-making here in Ireland, I did lots of skincare workshops and courses just to learn what the Irish people are looking for in their skincare or soap.”

She’s always learning about her craft: “I’m really obsessed with herbs and oils. I have hundreds of oils! I sometimes don’t even have a chance to use them in the soaps. But I love to research herbs and oils, read about and discover them.”

“Really, my favourite part”, Reham adds, “is just using the natural, simple ingredients and transforming them into something very beautiful and useful.”

While her mother and grandmother before her were the soap-makers of the family, Reham also learned a lot of the science behind her craft from her father, a pharmacist. “He would do a formula for cream for the skin, especially for eczema and rosacea. I remember being next to him and seeing him mix all the herbs and the ingredients together for the customer... so I learned this from both sides!”

Reham sells her soaps online, at markets and via various shops and pharmacies across Cork.

She is looking forward to this year’s Cork Craft Month, in particular the new Open-Air Makers Market which will take place at Douglas Court Shopping Centre on August 7. The market will bring together Cork makers and artists in a public showcase of locally made craft.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for me,” says Reham of the market and wider festival. “It allows me to connect with people who value handmade crafts and traditional skills. And it gives me a chance to share my story of Syrian soap-making, and my family history as well.”

Reham would love to see the soap-making tradition continue in her family. “It’s more than just making a product,” she says. “It’s about family tradition, sharing knowledge, keeping a part of the culture and heritage alive. I would be super proud if future generations, my kids, continue this craft. If they add on ideas, but respect the family tradition of soap-making. I would love this.”

Another crafter with the creative arts in her DNA is Cobh-based potter, Diana Skalkos. Her grand-uncle was the acclaimed artist, William Sheehan. He and Diana’s aunt, Valerie Horgan, were both award-winning Crawford Art College students.

William’s work is permanently exhibited in the Crawford, and Diana has formative memories of visiting the gallery with her family, as she recalls.

“When my mother brought us into town and she wanted to go anywhere, she’d leave us in the Crawford and say, ‘Break one single thing and so help me, God!’ But she’d say, ‘Look at the paintings, and go up and look at your granduncle’s painting... And if anyone asks you, say that you’re allowed in here!’”

Diana’s mother, she recalls, “would always try to surround us with beautiful things”, which inspired her love for art. She has fond memories of her aunt Valerie and her passion for craft, too:

“She was very creative. She did a lot of what would be traditionally considered women’s crafts - embroidery, crochet and things like that. When she died, nobody wanted her work, but I wanted it. So I have a whole cupboard full of it and I take it out and look at it. She was very, very skilled. And I think now she would be considered a very contemporary artist.

“But, at the time, she was just kind of working away at home and working as a nurse, which is what she had to do to earn a living. But she kept up [her art] for her whole life.”

Diana has inherited the family artistic talent, which for her is expressed through ceramics. She lived abroad for many years before returning to Cork, and studied her craft at Kensington & Chelsea Colleges and Westminster University in London, where she learned traditional pottery skills and discovered a whole new way to communicate.

“Because I’m dyslexic, language has always been very difficult for me”, says Diana. “[Ceramics] became the first language I was ever really proficient in. It’s the only way I could really express myself. Even when I learn big words in English, I forget them. The way for me to get my message across is through that visual expression, and it gave me so much freedom.”

Diana’s work is inspired by a rural Irish childhood and the natural beauty of Ireland. Married to a Greek man, she became fascinated with Greek mythology and searched for an Irish equivalent - “something that was uniquely ours”, she explains, “that was uniquely of us”.

It was from this search that her series, ‘Celtic Women’, was born. It examines the lives of modern women through the rituals that tie us to our ancient past - be it feeding the birds, or sea-swimming, or reading voraciously. “There is an incredible Irish Celtic spirit in these women, and I think that sometimes we forget it’s there. But it’s very much alive.”

The process, for Diana, is the best part of crafting. “It’s about the clay,” she explains. “The smoothness of it. The softness. It takes you somewhere else. It’s very much about the process for me. I don’t really care about the result. Once it’s finished, I don’t even want to see it, ever!”

With her creative heritage, does Diana hope to see artistry continue to be passed down through her family?

“I suppose what I really want to pass down is passion,” she considers. “A passion and a love for life.”

Like other Corkonians with a passion for crafts, August will be busy for Diana. She is curating exhibitions and leading workshops at various venues across Cork Craft Month. “I’m very excited about the whole thing,” she says.

Her anticipation is mirrored by Festival Director Ava Hayes, who concludes: “From exhibitions and demonstrations to hands-on workshops and new public events such as the Douglas Court Open Air Makers Market, we’ve created a programme that invites people to engage with craft in a meaningful and accessible way while celebrating the incredible talent that exists across Cork.”

Cork Craft Month is an annual celebration of contemporary and traditional craft across Cork city and county. For this year’s full programme of events, visit https://corkcraftanddesign.ie/

Find out more about Reham Ghafraji’s soaps at www.soapandmore.ietarget="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> and Diana Skalkos’ ceramics at https://corkcraftanddesign.ie/collections/diana-skalkos-ceramics