Fiona studied Fine Art at Crawford College of Art in Cork and spent her twenties living on the Beara Peninsula in Southwest Ireland and in New Zealand. During this time she painted and exhibited extensively and her work has been purchased by a number of private and public collectors. Traditional textile making however was in her blood. Her mother was a lace-maker who had come from a long line of hand-weavers so when the opportunity to train at the Kenmare Lace and Design Centre presented itself, she accepted it with open arms. Here she learned traditional Irish lace techniques including Carrickmacross and Kenmare Needlepoint. She completed a degree in Textile Design at the National College of Art in Dublin and from here she went on to develop an individual style of contemporary Irish Lace. She received a number of prestigious awards including the Thomas Dammann Bursary, the RDS Graduate Prize and the Eleanor De La Branchardiere Award for innovation in Lace Design. Her lace work combines her experience as a painter, her skills as a lacemaker and her knowledge as a designer to produce an original collection of Irish Lace which stays true to the high standard attributed to handmade lace in Ireland.

Fiona’s work is inspired by her surroundings, the everyday scenes of the Irish countryside which are so commonplace, they are often overlooked. She sees an almost reverent beauty in trees, flowers, animals, hedgerows and believes that through the meditative process of lacemaking she can connect with that beauty on a deeper level.