Many places lie close to the sea, but there are not many where the sea so widely permeates every facet of life, as it does on the Aran Islands. The sea made these islands, sculpted and chiselled them, stripped away layers of rock and soil, and toughened all brave enough to live here. When people came to Aran – farmers, gatherers, saints and invaders – confined physically by the sea, these communities thrived as academies of learning, Gaelic culture, linguistic endeavour and life arts.
The sea sustained all with her fruits, fishing the mainstay – a livelihood wholly reliant on brotherhood and communal effort. It is that tradition we think of coming into summer, when the sun shimmers on the sea, and down by the pier lobster pots are being readied for action – just as they would have been a century ago. The year is punctuated by the mending and preparation of the pots, catching bait, detangling the buoy ropes, laying down the pots around the coast of the island and pulling them up again to check for catch on every summer's day with a sea welcoming enough for a currach.
Traditionally long winter evenings and wet days were spent repairing pots on low stools by open fires, in the company of neighbours as songs and stories were shared. Men fished with those they had known all their lives, men they were reared and raised beside; island houses were often built in clusters, huddled close together to shelter from the might of the sea.
Fishing was done at dawn’s light, as the sun rose over the Burren, for though the fish were in, the day’s work on land lay ahead. Some of the crab and lobsters caught would go all the way to France, sold at Doolin in Co. Clare where deals were made and hands shaken. In Doolin too, there awaited a well-deserved pint of porter before the long journey home across a stretch of water named An Sunda Salach - The Foul Sound. If, of course, the sea permitted it so.
Whether it's inspiration for our knitwear, fishing, swimming, travelling or simply the comfort and reflection it affords us through its never-ending ebb and flow, the sea is an intrinsic part of daily life in the Aran Islands. The sea offers up every shade of Blue, Green, Navy, Grey in a constant motion that never tires, our latest reknits in Green Marl are the shade of the sea in shallow water on the sunniest days.
Aran and the Sea - our Summer 2025 Collection - designed and made and hand-finished in our Aran Island's workshop.
