Postgraduate Researchers

PhD Research Student - School of Art and Design

Title: ‘The ‘Good Room’: A Microhistorical Analysis of Taste, Design and Identity in Mid-Twentieth Century Domestic Irish Provincial Interiors, 1951-1971. 

Abstract: 

This research examines the intersection between design, taste and identity in Irish domestic provincial interiors from 1951-1971, and evaluates the relationship between official design strategies of the state that promoted notions of good taste, and the realities of popular choice. It is a period of substantial social and cultural change and signalled Ireland’s engagement with the forces of modernity. During this timeframe, 1951-1971, various government agencies were set up in recognition of the need for Irish industry to compete on an international stage, and to promote Irish design, and by default Irish taste to a wider audience. On one hand, a rural, craft-based paradigm for tourist consumption was constructed, and on the other, products with an external Nordic inspired modernist aesthetic were privileged. However, the reality of everyday industrialisation saw another strand emerge, particularly related to products of non -traditional origin, the commercial, which was less bound by enduring and prescriptive notions of good taste.  

It is within this context that the domestic sphere, particularly the concept of the ‘Good Room’ is examined as a reservoir of evolving tastes, class anxieties, postcolonial legacies and social markers. Home decoration and interior design came in many guises from state structures, inherited legacies, popular choice and the homemade. Therefore, by applying a microhistorical analysis to the material culture of the home, the prosaic artefacts of the ’Good Room’ are interrogated as emblems of aspiration, desire and cultural transition. They act as agents in the intersection between historical, cultural and design analysis while rooting the experience in the everyday. Focusing on archival material relating to state design strategies, material culture as advertised in provincial newspapers, specialist journals and popular magazines, and the homemade through the Reports of the Irish Countrywoman’s Association, a broad understanding of taste and the interior is established and defended. Case studies of Crannac furniture and Youghal Carpets Ltd. provide insights how artefacts functioned as repositories of social change.  Oral history testimonies and recollections of lived-in experiences also provided tangible evidence of real-life experiences of provincial Irish life. The premise on which this research is based is that Irish taste and identity in mid-twentieth century Ireland was informed by imposed and appropriated cultural mores as one of the legacies of colonialism. 

Supervisors: Dr Mary Ann Bolger, Dr Conell Vaughan, Dr Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire