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Bringing a traditional craft into a modern business setting is a balancing act that Hughes has performed with aplomb, in a career that goes back to when he was a young boy helping out in the family’s store on Inis Mór on the Aran Islands. Máire and Padraig Hughes had opened their first Carraig Donn crafts shop in Westport in 1965, with the Aran Islands store opening on Inis Mór three years later.
“When they opened up on the Aran Islands, that’s when we went out there and cut our teeth managing a store at the age of 16, reporting the sales every day, ordering the stock, doing out whatever VAT had to be done in those days,” he says. “Sending back the money or lodging the money and what have you. It was a fabulous experience at the age of 16 to do that kind of thing.
During Covid, the company was focused on avoiding lay-offs, which can be devastating to a rural community. Now it is focused on increasing its staffing levels, and has opened a new factory in Belmullet in the last six months.
“Two years ago, there was no talk of selling in the southern hemisphere, but during our summer, some are selling to the southern hemisphere because it’s winter there. It’s a matter of using your imagination. We can get into everybody’s home, into their living-rooms, every time. It’s how we use that time to sell our product that’s important.”
“You might get the product through the first time, but then the next time they’ll say the paperwork isn’t right, even though it’s been filled out the same way. So there are problems. The supply chain issue is very serious, and I think it will continue for some time. I’m not sure if even the shippers know where the stuff is at times.”