See Inside This Renovated Fishing Shed Turned Creative Studio

What appears to be a simple wood-planked fish shed, nestled between Carlingford Lough and the mist-shrouded Mountains of Mourne, is anything but …

Inside, fringed velvet Atlanta lounge chairs and a plush sofa and Livia ottoman, rugs, cushions and artwork by a friend, Andrew Humketell, tell a different story. Designed by New York-based Ciaran McGuigan, creative director of Irish furniture company Orior, and his American wife Logann, it’s a precious bolthole.

Since Architectural Digest called Orior “the chic-est furniture company you’ve never heard of” back in 2019, Ciaran has firmly established the company’s Manhattan showroom and cemented Orior’s influence amongst American designers.

The multifunctional shelving unit is a prototype made of solid rosewood. It houses a projector and serves as a meeting space, with room for a moodboard behind the screen.

A graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, where he met Logann, he began working for the family business in 2013. Though Ciaran and Logann split their time between their home in Brooklyn, Newry continues to be Orior’s centre of production and the couple make frequent trips between countries.

In the kitchen, a glass panel provides panoramic views of the lough. Birch plywood is used for the cabinetry and ceiling.

Having acquired the four-acre waterfront plot, complete with an old fishing shack in 2016, thoughts of starting work on the fish shed only really materialised during the pandemic, when Ciaran found himself back in Ireland full-time, staying with his parents, Brian and Rosemary McGuigan, who founded Orior in 1979.

“We didn’t make any major changes because we wanted to keep as many of the original elements as we could.”

In the bedroom, an Orior Mozart chair and painting by Lou Ros.

They created an open-plan design studio inspired by the surrounding environment as a showcase – a place to spend time exploring new projects and collaborations.