The Irish Dresser and Folklore Calendar returns featuring three Wexford natives

Now in its 5th year, the Irish Dresser Calendar has become part of the fixtures and fittings of many homes in Ireland and abroad since Michael Fortune first published it in 2020…

Sadly, this year will be his last year producing the calendar as he is currently working on a new publication called The Irish Dresser which will be launched in 2025.

Like before, the 2025 calendar is designed and printed in Ireland and features 14 new dressers from counties Galway, Mayo, Tipperary, Wexford, Donegal, Waterford and Kilkenny. It also features QR codes which you scan with your phone and they’ll take you to interviews with their owners. Last year Michael used these QR codes for the first time and was not sure how people would react to them. However, he changed his mind when a woman texted him one evening during the year to tell him that her 85 year old mother was at the kitchen table with her phone scanning the codes and listening to the interviews with the dresser owners on YouTube.

He started work on The Irish Dresser Project back in 2015 and ever since then he has been in hundreds of homes, recording, documenting these pieces of furniture and the stories behind them. He never set out with a specific goal in mind and this project, like a country road, has been a bendy and windy but enjoyable journey. During this time he has documented 100s of dressers and recorded their stories but moreso, he has, unannounced to himself, built up an understanding of their designs and features. For example he says he can now “spot designs particular to the south east where some old dressers have little slots in the shelves where spoons and forks were hung” and one such dresser features in this year’s calendar which belongs to Tommy Delaney in Courtnacuddy.

While he also says he’d “know the differences between north and south Wexford pieces due to a middle support bracket popular in northern dressers and as one maker copies the style of another and a pattern emerges in one geographical area”.

This year’s calendar features three dressers from Co. Wexford; Pat Boggan’s dresser in Ballycadden, Tommy Delaney’s dresser in Courtnacuddy and the dresser of husband and wife Kay and Sean Donohoe from Askamore. Sadly, Sean passed away recently so this photo is that bit more poignant for his family, neighbours and friends.

This year’s calendar features other dressers from shores of south Kilkenny to the wilds of Connemara and from the hills of Donegal to the fields of Tipperary. There is something for everyone plus there are over 100 Irish folklore dates pencilled into the calendar from full moon dates to little Irish folklore verses to do with the months and seasons. He says that “this is more than just any calendar, it’s a piece of art, created with passion and love and something that will guide you through the calendar year from a uniquely Irish perspective”.

It is also the last year he will be producing it, so grab yourself a piece of history when you can.

The calendars cost €15 and with free postage in Ireland. You can order copies online at www.thedresserproject.ie or www.folklore.ie or they are available to buy in most bookshops in Wexford such as Easons, Red Books, Hubb 16, Selskar Bookshop, Readers Paradise, Peter Steemers and a host of outlets.