During 2020, the Design and Crafts Council Ireland and the National Museum of Ireland jointly commissioned a piece of work, by way of competition, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Crafts people were invited to submit designs for a work that, when finished, would act as a tangible remembrance of that unprecedented period of crisis during the first lockdown. Cork-based silversmith Annemarie Reinhold won the competition with her gardening inspired designs for Spoon Garden, a sculptural work comprising vegetable-shaped silver spoons and silver seedlings, each displayed within its own wooden block. Created as a personal response to the pandemic, it is now part of the Contemporary Collection of Design and Craft at the National Museum of Ireland.

Explaining the inspiration for the piece Annemarie said; “Like lots of people, I was living in a small space in a city during the lockdown and it got me thinking a lot about nature and the privilege it is, especially at a time like this,to have your own outdoor space and to be able to enjoy the outdoors. Amidst all the change, nature and the seasons have also been a really important constant for us all, and planting and gardening have given a lot of people great comfort during difficult days. This is what I hope to capture in the Spoon Garden.”

Annemarie Reinhold, originally from Germany but living in Ireland since 2012, is a graduate of NCAD, the Bishopsland Educational Trust in the UK, and the DCCI Jewellery and Goldsmithing Skills & Design Course in Kilkenny. Taking inspiration from nature, she uses traditional silversmithing techniques to make sculptural and wearable objects. Spoon Garden by Annemarie Reinhold.

Currently on display in the Period Furniture gallery, Natioanl Museum of Ireland- Decorative Arts & History, Collins Barracks.