Island Diary

A century ago, Máire Cáit, a skilled knitter with a wonderful imagination, wanted her fisherman husband Máirtín Beag’s workwear to look as special as his Sunday Best, and began to create her own distinctive design flourishes. Our Limited Edition Máirtín Beag Galánta is inspired by this story. An elegant and understated navy cashmere blend with a gorgeous soft handle, made and hand-finished in in our Aran Islands studio. Launching on July 23rd. read more

Each season, during the development of our collections, we go through a testing process to tease out conceptual ideas, colours and production methods. Not all of these variations end up fitting within the final collection, often leaving us with a number of very unique, garments that don’t reach all or any of our clients. We have decided to make some of these available exclusively through our online store. Each week from today, we will be releasing one of these special garments, in very limited numbers. read more

Lá ‘le Bríde/St Brigid’s Day is special in Inis Meáin, where rituals from early Christian times and earlier are enacted, commemorating the reawakening of the earth and a new beginning. Young girls visit each house with a Brídeog and recite a prayer and a blessing. Years ago they used to get a gift of eggs which were becoming plentiful again. read more

From a very young age islanders learn knitting (Cniotáil) and dry stone walling (Tógáil Claíochaí) from their parents and they become master craftspeople in their teens. The Claíochaí range is inspired by these crafts and attempts to bring a new dimension to a craft that the artist Seán Scully calls ‘Art'. read more

The tradition of the Aran workwear sweater where island women folk knited sweaters for their fishermen husbands and family is well known. For this collection Inis Meáin challenged Lucy Downes of Sphere One, a modern knit design label, to come up with a new Aran. While the intricate cabling of traditional read more

Inis Meáin featured in Tom Stubb’s recent Mood Wall Series for the Campaign for Wool. In it Irish musician Maurice O’ Connor wears our Cashmere and Merino Claíochaí Crew Neck inspired by dry stone walls of the island. The intricate design uses a variety of stitches to emulate wall patterns such as, plated moss stitch, plated moss... read more

Patric Hollington passed away at his home in Paris yesterday. A great friend and customer for more than 40 years. Adieu Patric, ami, collaborateur! Beannacht leat a chara, ar do aistear deirneach , aistear na síoraíochta. read more

Duine de mhór-chniotálaithe na hÉireann ar lár, 4 Eanáir 2020 Beannacht Dé lena h-anam dílis! Ba chomhairleoir agus treoraí í don chomhlact seo. Thug sí tuairimí dúinn agus ba mhór againn a cuid tacaíochta i gcónaí. Deineann muid comhbhrón lena clann iníne; Máirín, Anna agus Nóirín agus lena gclann siúd. Aireoidh muid uainn go mór... read more

On a tiny island off the west coast of Ireland, Inis Meáin draws on land– scape and tradition to create clothing beloved from New York to Tokyo. Established in 1976, the Inis Meáin Knitting Company has achieved the remarkable feat of transforming a local cottage industry – and in this case, those words are literal – into... read more

Launching our portrait series on instagram, an introduction to the people behind the brand. Cniotáil Inis Meáin was founded on the island in 1976 by Tarlach de Blacám and Áine Ní Chongaile, inspired by the unique spirit, environment and heritage of the place. When the couple  married in 1973, they were determined to make their... read more