Ómós Digest #170: Things (15) I learned this week
Written by Cúán Greene.
Dear Readers,
Welcome back to:
15 things I learned this week.
The food sustainability initiative from a 2 Michelin star restaurant. Restaurant Alchemist in Copenhagen experiments with rapeseed press cakes (a bi-product of rapeseed oil), making it into sustainable koftas.
A guesthouse in Puglia with a shower of dreams.
John ffrench
I’ve become obsessed with the work of John ffrench. He was an Irish potter (born to Irish and Italian parents) undeniably ahead of his time. In the 1950s he went to study in Florence to soak up the innovations of Italian modernism. The Mediterranean influence, so apparent in his work from then on, set him apart on his return to Ireland. Like Eileen Gray (another favourite Irish artist and designer) his work looks as if it were made for today. The Cubist paintings of Picasso and Braque inspired both the ceramics and paintings he made at this time. Much of his work was large and irregularly shaped – to the point it was described as “too obstinately asymmetrical” by a Dublin newspaper. His work was often non-utilitarian and seemed to evolve and depart from any standard form of pot at the earliest opportunity. In terms of colour, the influences of Matisse and Joan Miro can be seen in the glaze designs of his pots: bright, joyous colours, playful lines and swirls, stripes and bands in turquoise and yellow, spirals and zoomorphic shapes. The colourful patchwork design that appeared in his work was influenced by the harlequin glass from Murano. In 1962, ffrench returned to Ireland and founded Arklow Studio Pottery.
Noble Rot magazine
“Noble Rot started out as a magazine about wine, food and the creative arts in 2013 before opening restaurants in Bloomsbury in 2015, Soho in 2020 and Mayfair in 2023.” I always thought it was the other way around… With the ambience and food in its restaurants unmissable, the magazine is an absolute joy to read, with great columnists. It succeeds in scratching my itch for wine education without being too heavy.