My Story

My name is Emma O’Donnell. I have always adored living by the sea, being outdoors and surrounded by nature. This led me to spending 10 years working as an outdoor instructor. In my spare time I enjoy all outdoor activities including surfing and sailing. My love for nature inspired me to study Zoology at University College Cork. This strengthened my love for animals and especially marine life.

I have always been into art. When I was a child I used to spend many rainy days doing arts and crafts and would always make handmade Christmas/Birthday gifts and cards for my family. So then when it came to secondary school, I of course picked Art as one of my subjects. Ceramics was definitely my favourite part of art class. I can still remember being so delighted with the option for my Junior Cert 2009 project, “As Nature Awakes”. This is where the ceramic octopus and the idea for a business first started. I made a ceramic octopus lamp, that my teacher and a lot of other people loved and she told me I could make and sell the lamp. That idea has stuck in my head since 2009 and I finally started my business this year. If it wasn’t for my teacher being so encouraging I may never have started Wacki (Wild Atlantic Ceramics Kinsale Ireland).

It all started to blossom during Kinsale Arts Weekend (KAW). My mum encouraged me to get involved, so I nervously did. The hugely positive and supportive reaction was not what I was expecting. After that weekend I decided to set up my Etsy Shop “WackiArt”. It was a bit unexpected to launch my business in the middle of a pandemic but I suppose everything happens for a reason. I had spent the first lockdown making little creatures not expecting to be selling them so soon. There has been challenges due to the pandemic but also great positives such as having more time and the growth of social media pages such “Shop in Ireland”. There’s been a lot of doom and gloom around recently due to the pandemic, so I hope that my little creatures can brighten someone’s day and bring a smile to their face.