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More than ever, we’re all keen to spend our money as locally as possible, supporting Irish independent shops and makers after what has been a tough year for everyone.
As well as uncovering some lots of great present ideas in our Christmas gift guides, we wanted to meet the hard-working shopkeepers behind some of Ireland’s wonderful independent shops who have been supporting makers and artists in Ireland and abroad this Christmas season and beyond.
Here, we chat with Margaret O’Rourke from MoMuse, an Irish jewellery and gift shop located in Dublin’s beautiful Powerscourt Townhouse.
I’m Margaret, the owner and designer of MoMuse Jewellery on the ground floor of the lovely Powerscourt Townhouse in Dublin City centre. I have been in business at this location for 12 years, beginning as a little stall in this very shop.
My mission has been to continue to create and design Irish jewellery collections. I am hugely influenced by travel and the night sky and work predominantly with gold-filled, 9kt gold and 18kt . I like to think of MoMuse as an experience to visit and love to create new displays and showcase lots of other talented Irish makers too.
All our two Irish jewellery collections are designed here in Dublin with many pieces are hand-finished in our in Dublin City centre studio too. One collection is made of gold-filled pieces and the other is our fine gold fine jewellery both nine and 18kt gold.
We do carry another number of other lovely Irish independent brands including Oxmantown skincare, Muckross notebooks and scarves from Kilarney, KDK scarves as well as French bird lamps and new Italian leather handbags. We’ve also got lovely Irish greeting cards from Simple Things and Paper and Parkminster candles from the UK .
This Christmas like many others I try to shop local, supporting small independent shops like myself. Loving our neighbours Cloonkeen Candles and perfumes is always my first stop for gifts for friends and family and my own fine gold pieces also go down a treat.
Being in retail I work right up to Christmas Eve. We have a little tradition here in the shop in the past few years that on the last day or two when all of our team are together we order some bubbles from the Pepper Pot upstairs as well as some nibbles and enjoy a toast together to celebrate all our hard-working team.
On Christmas Eve we close the shop at 3pm and we with some close friends for a drink in the city centre, then home to catch up with family as I am pretty exhausted! We usually have Christmas in our own home surrounded by my husband’s family and I am very lucky as my husband loves to cook so he always creates something a little different on Christmas Day.
The Christmas gift most memorable and special would be a ski holiday from my husband right after Christmas was just amazing to be away outdoors and such good fun, a special present.