The directions to Fermoyle Pottery in Ballinskelligs, South Kerry, were vague at best. I read that it was “hidden up a narrow laneway just off the Cahirsiveen Road”; someone else told me, “It’s not too far from the main R567 Skellig Ring Road”; and a charming woman out walking her dog suggested I go to the chocolate factory (Skelligs Chocolate, St. Finian’s Bay, The Glen), inquire there, “and don’t forget there’s free chocolate tasting.” Perfect. Thanks.
My search for Stephen O’Connell and his wife, Alexis Bowman, finally ended at the top of a narrow laneway (coincidentally, not too far from the chocolate factory or the R567), where I spotted big bags of clay in the driveway of a rural bungalow. I walked around to the back of the house — doors wide open, pets roaming in the garden — and found the outbuilding that affirmed my search was over: a pretty sign read “Fermoyle Pottery.”
Stephen and Alexis are the hands behind the wheel there, creating ceramic tableware for the tables of some of Ireland’s most impressive, Michelin-starred restaurants. Chef Jordan Bailey, in 2018, was the first to ask the couple to supply his new restaurant, Aimsir, in Kildare, with Irish-made tableware. After working in Maaemo, a Michelin 3-star restaurant in Oslo, Norway, Bailey wanted to “put Ireland on a plate” at his new restaurant, with “plate” being the operative word. Fermoyle’s distinctive plates, pots, and bowls, created with earthy, rustic finishes as opposed to slick, shiny pottery, were the perfect canvas for his culinary vision. Bailey earned two Michelin stars at Aimsir less than five months after opening, making it the fastest restaurant on the list of Great Britain and Ireland to achieve such an accolade.
Bailey stepped away from Aimsir in 2024, but not before attracting a legion of other top Irish chefs who wanted to know about the pottery. “After Aimsir’s success,” O’Connell told me, “Chefs started to call in with similar concepts for their restaurants, asking us to readjust our designs to fit their style. So, basically, we began to create bespoke designs for each.”
Jp McMahon orders plates and cups for his Aniar restaurant in Galway; Takashi Miyazaki serves his Kappou-style menu on small sharing plates and in rice bowls at Ichigo Ichie in Cork; and the couple’s biggest project currently is supplying handcrafted tableware for Cúán Greene’s Ómós, a guest house and restaurant in Abbeyleix, Co. Laois. Fermoyle now has more than 40 Irish and international restaurants as clients, and their work is frequently used for food photos in cookbooks and other print and online publications.
But this wasn’t always the case. Before Bailey discovered Fermoyle, Stephen and Alexis both had jobs in the “arts” (he worked in pottery at a nearby artist’s retreat and in a print studio in Dublin; she was a photography major in her native Australia). When they married in 2005, they moved into Stephen’s childhood home in Ballinskelligs, became parents to three children (Noah, 16, Indigo, 13, and Fluffy, 10), and started making ceramic pieces with earthy, rustic colors and finishing them with glazes made from local materials like ashes collected from wood fires and powdered slate dust from Valentia Island quarries.
To view their collection and purchase online, or if you’d like to visit their studio and gardens in person, visit fermoylepottery.ie to schedule an appointment. To dine in one of the restaurants that feature their tableware, visit Aniar (53 Lower Dominick St., Galway), Ichigo Ichie Bistro (5 Sheares St., Cork), or Ómós Guest House and Restaurant.
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Carrot, Ginger & Rooibos Brack
Makes 1 loaf
Susan Jane White is an Irish cookbook author, food writer, and wholefood recipe developer. She loves sneaking veggies and other healthy ingredients into her recipes, including this one for a traditional tea brack. Beautifully photographed on pieces of Fermoyle Pottery, she generously shares the recipe and photo with Echo readers. For those not familiar with rooibos tea, it’s a red bush tea, high in antioxidants, with a sweet, nutty taste. You can substitute black tea, if you wish.
1 1/4 cups cooled rooibos tea
1 1/4 cups raisins
1 egg, beaten
1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground allspice
3/4 cup coarsely grated carrot
3/4 cup light muscovado or coconut sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons crystalized ginger (optional)
Softened butter, for spreading
1. Soak the raisins in cooled tea for 5 to 6 hours, or overnight.
2. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a 9-inch loaf pan with parchment.
3. Stir the egg into the soaked raisins. Sift in the flours, baking powder, ginger, and allspice. Fold in the grated carrot, sugar, and crystallized ginger, if using. Transfer to the prepared pan; smooth the top.
4. Bake the loaf for 75 to 80 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
5. Let cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes; invert onto a wire rack. Let cool completely before cutting into slices.
Margaret Johnson’s “Recipes” page alternates with “Ireland Hopping: Adventures in Food, Drink, and Travel.” For further details on her work, or to order a signed cookbook, visit irishcook.com.
