About Us

Historical Roots

Our social enterprise, incredibly, has roots going back 150 years. In the 1870s, many blind people lived in poor conditions on the streets of Dublin and depended on the charity of others to survive. Perceiving a lack of support for this group but also their human potential, the Carmelite Brothers founded a weaving and basketmaking workshop for men in Drumcondra Castle. It was hoped that the acquisition of vocational and craft skills would allow for greater financial and social independence - and this worked.

150 years later, times have changed but we still see a need to proactively address a large gap in Irelands current employment system. Only about 12.5% of people with multiple disabilities have a job - we believe that this figure does not reflect the capabilities and interests of people like us. 

Current Model

While our location and interest in weaving have not changed much over time, our model of social enterprise certainly has. Our staff no longer live onsite and we employ both men and women. We also employ people who have additional disabilities - this was a gradual response to the changing disability landscape over the past few decades.

These days we also are more outwards-facing. There is a distinctive emphasis on teaching our staff transferable skills and encouraging interaction with our local and broader communities. We seek to provide more opportunity for integration than the traditional provision of shelter that was seen in all centres such as ours in the past.

Fostering Independence

Our team is a great blend of people of all abilities. We have a genuinely great time working together but we also recognise the need for people to progress in life. One of those important areas is in work - it's a place for building skills and socialising and we spend the majority of our time doing this. However, it is important that all people have the opportunity to explore different environments and interactions in society - this is no different for people who have disabilities. 

While we provide our team with job security and financial independence, we ultimately wish for our staff to go on to work in different enterprises outside of our immediate community. It's important for many reasons - local community integration, independence from disability services where possible and new social and professional opportunity. It's about fostering independence and building capacity for good and varied lives.