This is a bookcase that I built to house my first-born daughter’s collection of books.  Every year we give her a nicely bound edition of something she should eventually get around to reading in her lifetime.  Her maternal grandmother started the collection with an inscribed first-edition of Frank McCourt’s best known novel, Angela’s Ashes.

I have always been interested in the Art Nouveau period, and I wanted to attempt something within my ability that incorporated the design vocabulary of that era.  For inspiration, I borrowed heavily from Louis Majorelle’s 1910 furniture catalogue:  Masterpieces of Art Nouveau Furniture.

Owing to the unique circumstances of the bookcase’s construction (limited time and opportunity) all of the carving was designed while the build was in progress.  Thematically, the decoration pays homage to my daughter’s Irish roots;  she was conceived in Ireland and born to an Irish-American mom.  Leabharlann Mairead is Gaelic for Mairead’s Library.

Launch Gallery