# Project Description Eire Echoes Tiernan Dowd Summary Final work Awards Winner | Graduate Award 2025 Dia Dhuit, My name is Tiernan, an Irish designer from the west of Ireland. My journey in design began with a degree in Product Design at the University of Limerick, and I’m currently expanding my international and conceptual practice through postgraduate study at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. I’ve come to see design as a flexible language, one that designers help facilitate. My approach blends hands-on making, storytelling, interactive, and co-design. I saw myself as a creative engineer, but now I’m developing into a more conceptual, socially engaged industrial designer. Studying at Central Saint Martins has strengthened my natural making skills and evolved my design approach to an introspective, socially engaged industrial designer. Dia Dhuit, My name is Tiernan, an Irish designer from the west of Ireland. My jo... College Central Saint Martins Course MA Industrial Design Graduation year 2025 In today’s globalizing world, cultures and identities blend together as we migrate in search of opportunity and a better life. Oftentimes, we clash with this unfamiliar change . To overcome such issues requires conversation, but even then, we often judge one another by how we speak. Accents carry a wealth of vibrant history, shaped by the land itself, yet they are often held accountable for the history of their place of origin. Accent bias is a significant issue, affecting people globally in both subtle and overt ways. With the increasing support of anti-immigration sentiment and alienation, we begin to dehumanize everyone who is not “us,” resorting to stereotypes to justify our discomfort. Éire’s Echoes explores Ireland’s rich linguistic culture through a set of interactive speakers. Users can explore Ireland’s accent landscape at the press of a button. By enabling individuals to hear a range of regional dialects, this project aims to bridge the gap between people and uncommon voices, fostering empathy and deeper dialectic understanding. It humanizes the voices we’ve begun to dehumanize, encouraging us not to resist the changes of those who now call Ireland home. Designed for group interaction and exploration, Éire’s Echoes simple push button speakers, and magnetic connectors to explore this evolving chatting map . This evolving soundscape mirrors the richness and fluidity of Irish cultural identity itself. Final work Community of sound The individual regions stand together, distinct yet connected. With each new speaker added, the installation gradually builds a linguistic map of Ireland, piece by piece. The speakers are securely joined through magnetic hexagonal bases, allowing the landscape to grow organically as voices and regions are brought into conversation. a quick chat Each speaker is composed of four main components: the base, the heart (speaker), the neck, and the cap. The design draws inspiration from the enduring forms of lighthouses and ancient round towers that punctuate Ireland’s landscape, solitary structures built to guide, to endure, and to communicate across distance and time. a captive audience The form, height, and materiality of the work draw directly from the Irish landscape and its enduring towers. Each speaker stands in isolation as an individual voice, capable of holding its own conversation. Yet when gathered, these pillars connect to form a miniature cityscape or sonic landscape, with peaks and valleys that echo the Giant’s Causeway: an interconnected shoreline, forever standing against the waves of time. The wooden necks rise and fall to express the diversity of voices within the collection. Each wood was chosen to embody a distinct region of Ireland: the energetic ash of the south, the mighty oak, king of the forest, from the midlands, and the immortal yew (interpreted here through cherry), with historical ties to the north, and is connected to Ireland's religious history. Through this assembly of form, material, and sound, the work invites reflection on place, connection, and the enduring resonance of cultural identity. Eire's Echoes Research and process Standing tall, shoulder to shoulder Through many interactions, Eire's echoes took many forms. Starting from the initial county map, the standing pillars help tell this journey. Process The long journey through the project led me down many avenues and paths. I explored all shapes and forms — from whistles to doorbells. This process of exploration is essential in grounding the concept. I explore the main shape of the hexagon, one of nature’s most enduring forms: safe, stable, and encouraging. This shape inspired my investigation of the Giant’s Causeway and informed the design of the ‘feet’ and ‘cap,’ both shaped to disperse sound across the horizontal plane. To honour this coastal reference, I experimented with concrete and plaster, before ultimately selecting jesmonite for its rapid curing and reproducibility — both crucial for replicating the primary artefacts. To further evoke the texture and tone of the Causeway, I mixed crushed rustic brick into the jesmonite, subtly darkening the material and anchoring it in place and memory. Share this project In today’s globalizing world, cultures and identities blend together as we migrate in search of opportunity and a better life. Oftentimes, we clash with this unfamiliar change. To overcome such issues requires conversation, but even then, we often judge one an... 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