From starting a jewellery business from cutlery off-cuts to building the Museum of Style Icons in two months, you could say that Newbridge Silverware CEO William Doyle is, well, a bit of a risk taker.

“But sometimes, you’re left with no option but to take a risk,” he reflects over lunch at the newly designed restaurant by interiors icon Carleton Varney – whose client list has included the White House – with whom they will launch a new home and giftwear range this autumn. But before looking forward, it’s worth a glance back to see how far this family owned company has come since it was bought by William’s father, Dominic, in the 1970s, when it was on the brink of collapse.

“I think he might have been a greater risk taker to be honest,” says William.

“He did it with nothing, absolutely nothing. Although I did it with near enough nothing as well, because this business was about to close in 1993.”

STARTING FROM SCRATCH

It was in the meat business that William’s father cut his teeth, taking over what was a family run butcher stall and developing DB Doyle to employ 200 people at one stage. However, after selling the business in the 1970s and reinvesting in property, he “all but lost everything” due to a crash in the economy. “So he was forced to start from scratch,” he says, explaining that Dominic initially came to what was then Newbridge Cutlery as production manager.

The company was originally set up under a State-sponsored scheme in the 1930s, as Newbridge – previously a garrison town – had been plunged into economic depression when the British army pulled out after the foundation of the Irish Free State. At its height, it employed 600 people, producing everything from butcher’s knives to tea sets, but once Ireland joined the EEC in 1973, it struggled to compete with cheaper imports.

“And it all but closed,” says William, who explains how his father re-mortgaged the family home to take control of the ailing company, scaling down in size, investing in new equipment and focusing on the higher end of the market to survive.

“So he made it niche and that allowed it to do pretty well through the late ’70s and early ’80s.”

crEATIVITY IN CRISIS

By the ’90s, however, the traditional canteen of Newbridge cutlery was no longer on consumers’ wish lists.

“The younger generation had less interest in formal dining,” recalls William. “You had crockery as opposed to china, you had glass as opposed to crystal, you had pine tables, no linen, stainless steel cutlery and no silver; so the business started to spiral downwards again.”

He notes, however, that at times of crisis, “you become creative”. At the time, scrap material from the cutlery was returned to the UK, until somebody noticed that you could easily make a napkin ring from the off-cuts.

“And then someone got the idea that if the napkin ring was a bit bigger, it would be a bracelet,” adds William, though their initial jewellery collection in 1993 “failed miserably”.

“We couldn’t get our retail network to take the idea seriously, that we, a tablewear company (notable for being a tablewear company), could be a jewellery company,” he says.

Indeed, they had shelved the idea, when Barbara McMahon – presenter of RTÉ’s fashion flagship Head To Toe – happened to call to the showroom one day, noticed the jewellery and convinced William to let her do a feature on it.

“I did my best to discourage her,” he admits, when in fact, that stroke of luck not only saved the idea, but the company itself, with jewellery now dominating the output, followed by giftwear and tablewear, with 100 staff employed throughout the business.

MUSEUM OF STYLE ICONS

It’s not the only time a gamble paid off. The in-house Museum of Style Icons launched in 2007 “came from no plan at all”, says William, who explains that it started when his wife, Monica, spotted an article in Hello! about the upcoming auction of Audrey Hepburn’s black dress from Breakfast At Tiffany’s.

“I ended up being the under bidder,” explains William, who managed to nab a Givenchy-designed piece from the film Charade instead, generating huge press interest in Ireland, although he had no idea what to actually do with it.

However, an LA-based auction company called Julien’s, which specialises in Hollywood and celebrity memorabilia and has an Irish director, read about the purchase and phoned William to see if he would be interested in hosting an exhibition of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia in his “museum”.

“So I said: ‘Well, why don’t we do that,’” recalls William. “So I put the phone down and I rang our engineer and I said: ‘Jim, could you build a museum in two months?’

“We were literally putting the staircase in on the day of the gala event.”

Since then, William has amassed an impressive collection from stars including Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and the Beatles, even loaning items to the V&A in London, though he admits that sky-rocketing prices mean it is “all but impossible to buy now what’s available”.

The partnership with Julien’s, however, means they regularly host special items – for example, the iconic dress Marilyn Monroe wore to sing Happy Birthday to President John F Kennedy – while they also curate their own exhibitions, with a current Princess Diana showcase.

FAMILY VALUES

And Newbridge Silverware continues to innovate, whether it’s the upcoming collection with Carleton Varney, which they hope will open doors to the US market, or upskilling staff to achieve “Chinese Tourist Welcome” accreditation. But at its heart, it remains a family company: William’s sister, Oonagh, is sales director; another sister, Pauline, is involved with the museum; while his eldest son, David, is also learning the ropes.

“I started in dispatch,” says David, who is also a personal trainer. “I said I’d learn from the very beginning, so I’m in the factory now.”

William, however, is eager to encourage David and his other children, Conor, Maedbh and Dominic, to pursue their own passions.

“I’d be encouraging them to go elsewhere, initially at least,” he says, explaining that when he joined his father “for a summer” in 1974, he never expected he’d be there over 40 years later. Though you suspect he really wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

“We love the fact that we’re still manufacturing when there are very few traditional manufacturers left,” he smiles. CL

www.newbridgesilverware.com

Nora Ulrich

Jewellery Designer

Nora, originally from Hungary, started working with Newbridge Silverware as an Erasmus student through the National College of Art & Design. After completing her degree, she returned to do an internship and has been there ever since.

“I get a lot of inspiration from just looking at people and trying to think what would be a popular design. I really like the story behind jewellery, so, for me, jewellery is always telling something about my beliefs, my story or myself.”

Simone Costello

Creative Consultant

Having studied graphic and fashion design, Simone has worked as a consultant with Newbridge Silverware for the past 10 years. Recent roles have ranged from planning ad campaigns with brand ambassador Naomi Campbell to curating the Princess Diana exhibition.

“Her pink Catherine Walker dress is my favourite garment in the whole museum,” says Simone of the pink evening dress with bodice and matching bolero, embroidered with sequins, gold glass beads and gold braid, which Diana wore on her 1992 India tour.

Rose Doherty

Museum of Style Icons

From Grace Kelly’s High Society ball gown, right up to the Kardashian clan’s figure-hugging gúnas, there really is something for every interest and era at the Museum of Style Icons. But according to Rose Doherty, there is one star whose style appeals to all ages.

“Audrey [Hepburn] would probably be the biggest attraction,” says Rose, who explains that as well as items including the hot pink cocktail dress from Breakfast At Tiffany’s, the museum also has postcards and letters exchanged between Audrey and her father, who lived in Ireland in later life and is buried in Dublin’s Mount Jerome Cemetery.

Cliff English

Production Manager

Cliff English has worked with Newbridge Silverware for 33 years and oversees the company’s manufacturing plant, with technology ranging from single-stroke presses to flow jet machines that use water and sand to produce jewellery patterns. He explains that even a single piece of cutlery will go through “70 different steps”, from start to finish. “We bring in the raw material, which is the nickel silver, we’ll cut the blanks out of it, we process it through the second stage finishing, polish it, plate it and pack it.”

Mick Dempsey

Production Worker

Mick Dempsey started working with Newbridge Silverware not long after getting married, when his previous employer, Kildare Wallpapers, closed down.

“I walked up the Cutlery Road and I met Dominic [Doyle],” says Mick, “and I started there in the morning. That was the interview, in the middle of the road.”

And 37 years later, he is now one of the longest-serving staff members in the factory.

“We got older and wiser,” he laughs. “Well, I don’t know about the wiser.”