Just four years ago, John Redmond, the former creative director for Brown Thomas and an employee of the firm for over 30 years, walked out of the Grafton Street building as a staff member for the very last time.
Does he miss it? “No, which is kind of surprising,” he muses from a bubblegum-hued armchair in his living room, his toy poodle, Stella, falling asleep in his arms. “I miss some of the people, of course. But because of what I’m doing, I don’t really have the time to think about it.”
What Redmond is doing is essentially engaging in a second career, one borne from a lifetime of creation and creativity. At 58, just two years shy of his retirement, he left one of the country’s most coveted creative roles to engage in his one true passion, and the one he’d been pursuing secretly for some time: painting.
“I loved my job, don’t get me wrong,” he says. “But I’m a curious person, and when I get an idea, I jump in with two feet. In that way, it was going to happen anyway, but after a few different people and galleries started to show interest, I knew I had to take the leap.”
Redmond had arrived in Dublin from Carlow in the early 1980s to study in the College of Marketing and Design - now part of Technological University Dublin - before getting work in Arnotts as a window dresser.
At 15, he’d won a Guaranteed Irish competition for the best dressed windows in the country in his mother’s shop, having come second the year before, and at 20, was headhunted by Brown Thomas for a merchandiser role.
There, he quickly earned the nickname The Tastemaker as he rose through the ranks to become a senior window dresser, display artist and a slew of other roles over the course of his tenure.
“I was very lucky,” he says. “Because the company was privately owned by the Weston family, who wanted the creative element of the business to continue to grow, I could continue to grow too.”
Throughout this time, Redmond painted. Generally, this happened on days off and weekends, until it turned into something he woke early for before work. But it wasn’t until his 50th birthday that he exhibited anything.
“I had a house full of paintings, and my friends and family always said I should do an exhibition,” he says. “So when 50 came around, we were talking about how to celebrate it, and I said no to a party, but yes to an exhibition.”
That first collection sold out, and since then, Redmond has exhibited extensively in Ireland and internationally, with works now held in private collections across the US, UK and Europe.
“I couldn’t believe the initial reaction to my work, and still can’t,” he says. “And when I saw where the paintings were going, and what collectors were buying them… It just further cemented the idea that I’m exactly where I should be.”
Deeply influenced by the Bauhaus movement, as well artists such as Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee, Redmond tends to exist within the realms of abstract geometry and punchy colour-blocking, often choosing shades that he spends full days mixing to get right.
Typically he thinks in series rather than individual pieces, with each series existing within its own universe, unconnected from the one before. In person, his works are rich and glossy and boast an ineffably friendly air.
Significant progression
Later this month, another pivot of Redmond’s will be exhibited for the first time. His debut sculpture collection, Beyond Form, in association with Gormleys Gallery, marks a significant progression in his practice, translating his work into three-dimensionality for the very first time.
“I was always interested in making something physical,” he says from his studio, a roomy atelier less than 100 feet from his front door. “And I knew I wanted to do something elegant but also timeless, as well as something that would command a presence in whatever space they go.”
Redmond’s four-piece collection, with eight editions of each, began life as sketches before taking their final forms: bronze, resin and marble. Designed to be reminiscent of jewels, each piece’s surface texture is smoothly polished in order to enhance the play of light.
“I wanted them to be kind of reflective, as well as being comfortable to touch. That sensory element was incredibly important,” he says.
In a number of ways, the sculptures of Beyond Form are diaristic of Redmond and his wife Karen’s extensive travels, as well as a lifelong appreciation for art, architecture and design.
What separates his sculptures from his paintings, however, is the direct investigation into the relationship between balance and form. He has successfully created pieces that appear to be still taking shape in front of the viewer, creating a sense of both hush and vigour.
This is particularly true of the pieces Flow and Wave. In the former, a luminous jade tone brings vitality to an undulating, biomorphic structure, and in the latter, a vivid, flowing red form motion is captured frozen in time.
“I found that when I was explaining them to my wife before creating them, my hands instinctively made the shape I was looking for,” Redmond says, his hands sculpting the air between us. “It was only when she pointed that out that I realised their shapes had already been created in my mind, and that I just needed to get them down on paper.”
Redmond is adamant that he is not a political artist, but one who simply seeks joy. “I think that’s what people want from art,” he says. “It’s also what I get from creating them, which I think comes through. If I’m honest, I’m not nervous to show these, I’m just excited. And that to me is true success, way more so than how well these pieces sell.”
In the same year that Redmond left Brown Thomas, his wife, the department store’s former head buyer, left too. In September 2022 they launched Ecru Studios, a women's fashion and lifestyle brand with pieces curated from all over the world.
They highlight the work of small makers and artisans from all over the world, and showcase unique pieces - like carafes made from up-cycled Bordeaux wine bottles and pleated kimonos - on the shelves of their store in the Westbury Mall in Dublin city centre, and in their online store.
“We wanted to bring the complete opposite of what we’d worked with our whole lives to the consumer, and prove that you didn’t need to spend a lot of money to have a stylish wardrobe or home,” Redmond says. “We wanted to go back to basics.”
As Stella emerges from her slumber into running leaps, Redmond muses on what the rest of his career might bring.
“I don't know if I have allowed myself to think of the future. At this point, I'm really happy,” he says. “My practice is growing quickly, quicker than I could have expected. And you know, I'm really excited to explore more things down the line. For once, I just want to see where it goes. I have ideas, but I’m just taking them one day at a time.”
Gormleys will unveil John Redmond’s new sculpture collection, Beyond Form, on May 21 at 27 South Frederick Street, Dublin 2. The exhibition will run until June 4
