A little about us . . .
Joop Duyn is a Master Cabinet Maker with over forty years experience in cabinet making and furniture restoration.
Adrian Duyn graduated with a Bsc. in Furniture Conservation & Restoration from the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology - The Furniture College - Letterfrack Campus.
Our vastly different ranges of experience, training and skills complement each other and help invigorate our creativity. Together we understand the sentimental value of furniture to our clients and respect this in every project we undertake, with personal consultation at every process.
We offer an extensive range of services together with a professional and ethical manner towards antique furniture conservation / restoration & all manors of design, from one off bespoke pieces to interior and architectural design.
The workshop is located just outside Kenmare town, where we have spotted a niche in the market offering high quality services with a professional manner serving locally, national and internationally.
Do not hesitate to contact us for more details or any questions you may have.
The difference between a Conservation / Restoration approach:
- Conservation is to stop any decay, to stabilise and use preventative methods to help inhibit any future deterioration on historical objects.
- Restoration is to respectively reinstate an object to its original condition, while honouring the object's history and minor defects lending to its aged look.
Our services are offered to private clients, commercial businesses, public & state bodies.
Strictest confidence always upheld.
- Complete ethical and professional Conservation/Restoration treatments of wooden objects and furniture.
- Bespoke free standing furniture.
- Consultancy of furniture offering treatments, quotations, advice, and knowledge.
- Ethical, professional and safe, chemical-free woodworm eradication by means of shock freezing at -30 °C
- French Polishing, waxing, oiling, lacquering and all general finishing techniques.
- Small seat upholstery, caning, and any other seating materials.
- Delivery/collection of before and after treatment of furniture professionally and safely.
- Maintenance, upkeep of items of furniture, including large collections either private or public.
- Documentation – photographic, drawing, reports, mapping and research on items of natural history.
- Storage – in a controlled, secure environment.
- Full 3D computer rendering, AutoCAD, working drawings.
- Metalwork, lock making, antique key cutting.
- Carving, small joinery.
- Wood-turning.
- Veneering /marquetry /inlay.
- Laser engraving/ cutting.
- Any relevant service asked to be carried out, that may be researched or sub-contracted to a trusted specialist.
Do not hesitate to contact us, for more details or any questions you may have.
Some of our clients we have had the privilege of working with:
Park Hotel Kenmare
OPW - Office of Public Works
The Union league of Philadelphia
Alchemist Two Michelin Star Copenhagen
Parknasilla Resort & Spa
Sheen Falls Lodge
Cliff House Hotel
Ballynahinch Castle
Wild Honey Inn Michelin Star
Bryan O'Sullivan Studio
Thomas F. Meagher Foundation
Houses of the Oireachtas
Fexco
Nebo by Deni Srdoč Michelin Star Croatia
Killarney Park Hotel
Muckross House Estate
JCA Architects
Fior Studios
Meitheal Design Partners
Nano Nagle Place Cork
AIB Bank South Mall Cork
Liebherr Group
Edit Design Studio
Anchor Studio
Chester Beatty
Lansdowne Kenmare
Dromquinna Manor
Europe Hotel
Awards and accolades:
Institute of Designers Ireland (Judge Graduates Awards)
Design & Crafts Council Ireland (Accredited)
Condé Nast - The World of Interiors (Magazine Feature)
RTÉ Home of the Year (TV Feature)
Institute of Conservators-Restorers in Ireland ICRI (Proud Member)
Institute of Designers Ireland Awards (Shortlisted)
Architecture Kerry (Video interview Feature & Guest Speaker)
Design Pop Cork (Exhibition, Panel Discussion & Speaker)
RTÉ Late Late Show - Antiques Challenge (TV Feature)
Electric Picnic Arts & Music Festival (Collaboration)
Institute of Designers Ireland (Proud Member)
UK Interior Awards (Shortlisted)
Irish Made Awards (Finalist)
1979 - 2019 Celebrating 40 Years in Kenmare
First published Summer 2019
This summer we are proudly celebrating 40 years of business in Kenmare, and would like to mark the occasion by launching our website www.joopduyn.ie where new and existing clients will be able to find us easier from our online presence. Get in touch, find more information on our range of services all the while viewing our dedicated Design & Conservation/ Restoration galleries, where we will continuously upload new pictures of our latest projects.
Starting off in a basic workshop or more so a cow shed with no electricity back in 1979 working at first for the Park Hotel, restoring the entire collection of furniture and from there spotting a niche in the market. The local people of Kenmare were trusting towards our work and day by day, year by year we steadily grew.
Kenmare was a small town with big ambitions, an accepting, progressive and outward looking drive of the people all helped establish this little town as a key destination for tourism. This worked hand in hand with us, from boutique and high end hotels to guesthouses, private clients both local and people with holiday homes all played a part in the continued success we have had in the past 40 years.
We have had occasions to work with some fascinating personalities, celebrities, politicians, public and state bodies. Nevertheless these exciting projects and opportunities come and go with time. Our backbone and core clientele are people with collections and sentimental pieces of furniture all needing care and attention or bespoke custom design.
We can honestly say that we have not had one complaint over these 40 years with attention to detail of our work and level of service. Our main pool for attracting new clients throughout the years and to this day continues to be - word of mouth from existing satisfied clients - something we pride ourselves on daily and continue to uphold.
Our range of services have progressively increased in the recent years, with a clear division of antique furniture restoration and one off furniture / interior design, one week working on a 18thCentury Italian Baroque period ebonized curio cabinet with bone inlay for Nano Nagle Place, South Presentation Convent Cork & JCA Architects and the next week working on designing and creating a complete relaxation suite for the Spa at Parknasilla Resort, while also creating a pair of custom after dinner drinks trolleys and petit fours chocolate boxes for Sheen Falls Lodge.
Some of the highlights from the past 40 years have been in the early years we were asked to reproduce a 17th Century oak baroque bed side locker for the family of the previous owners of Muckross Estate. More recently we worked with the Thomas F. Meagher Foundation and the 1916 rising 100 year celebrations. In 2018 we collaborated with Fíor Studios on an art installation at the Electric Picnic Music and Arts Festival.
In the 80’s we participated with someone in the antiques challenge on’ The Late Late Show’ – coming out as overall winners. We were asked to catalogue and document the entire collection of furniture and fixings at Dromore castle, a privilege to even be inside such an historical place.
Some of the more unusual projects have been to restore a baby grand piano – then hang it on a wall at Shutters, Dromquinna Manor. Not to mention rescuing a woman who had become trapped inside a wardrobe after it fell on her! Or carefully breaking the main entrance lock on a hotel door to let an Ambassador out – couldn’t have him leaving from the back door!
Our vastly different ranges of experience, training and skills complement each other and invigorate our creativity, keeping things interesting as every job, and every day is different. New challenges arise and the correct solutions must be found.
As the world grows smaller our client pool has with time increased over the years, reaching right throughout Ireland, the UK, and Mainland Europe. Even as far afield as The United States, Hong Kong and Japan, where clients have shipped items over to us for some special care and attention. Our website will further help connecting us with new clients and new opportunities.
We have had the privilege to work with some fantastic people and businesses throughout the years and for this we thank each and every one of you, for keeping this local business going – here’s to the next 40 years!
“We continue as guardians of the past to safeguard objects for the enjoyment of future generations along with creating new design pieces that will eventually, in time, earn the right to be called antiques themselves.
In doing so preserving the past – creating the future.”