Hillsborough silversmith wins Northern Ireland Maker of the Year 2024
5th December 2024 | ANNOUNCEMENTS | OUR STORIES
Silversmith Cara Murphy has won this year’s inaugural Northern Ireland Maker of the Year Award, supported by the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation, including a £1,000 prize awarded at a special presentation at Eltham Palace on Tuesday 26 November 2024.
The award celebrates a heritage craftsperson in Northern Ireland who has made an outstanding contribution to their craft within the previous year. It recognises a contribution that is far beyond the ordinary, either in pushing their craft to new levels, contributing to its promotion or continuation in an exceptional way.
Cara Murphy’s silverware has been recognised through high-profile awards including an RDS Irish Craft Bursary, Rosy James Memorial Award, and through the public and private collections where her work is held. In the last year she has completed her Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust scholarship, following completion of which she created a new body of silver and enamel bowls which were chisel engraved and vitreous enamelled inside and out.
The two other finalists for the award were Bernard Cunningham, a heritage buildings conservator who over a 25 years has worked on a range of vernacular buildings and mansion houses throughout Ireland, and Aaron Leach, who switched his focus from blacksmithing to the luxury golf market during COVID-19, and has since made putters for some of the world’s top golf clubs.
The Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation supports innovative people working in field-based science, art and craft, teaching and protection of the natural world.
Photo: Cara Murphy, winner of the 2024 Northern Ireland Maker of the Year Award, and Imogen Bright Moon, Heritage Crafts Trustee. Photo by Robert Wade.