An impact worth making begins with a difference worth seeing
Uncovering The Better Self
We all have uniqueness, but it takes belief to raise it to the heights of excellence.
All cultures have a visual shorthand for their values. Symbols, styles, and gestures collect to form a code over time. At home in Ireland however ours had been steadily replaced, eventually setting our very values adrift.
But proud of what I’d inherited, I wanted to learn how they could be maintained.
Photo by Leio McLaren
Sommum Bonum
Arriving in Japan in 2004, it wasn't hard to see how Japanese drew their values from a common pool. The real insight however, was seeing that it was through the repeated application of those same values that made them theirs alone.
This loyalty to process resulted in their signature pursuit of excellence itself.
The lesson? By embracing & integrating a shared uniqueness into action & expression we help define our highest virtue. Similarly, ignoring it rejects the path to our most authentic and best selves.
The Genuine Article
The problem however is that the Irish defining difference has become almost imperceivable.
Thankfully learning Japanese showed me the source from which a culture reproduces itself—the very words it uses—and with that the invisibility of Irish language at home only comes to mean the absence of any honest understanding about who we are. Without Irish therefore authenticity is impossible.
What might an integrated Irish mind be, literate of a worldview that is ours, and ours alone?
The Hidden Advantage
Some of our highest achievements, such as when our culture and influence spanned across the British Isles and also created Europe’s oldest vernacular literature, emphasized that inside our expression lay a worldview with a singular excellence; our highest virtue.
Photo by Connor Misset
Greatness from beyond The Pale
Hidden in plain sight, the Gael’s built environment remains an under-appreciated inheritance and lasting message. Erected in a thriving culture, it bore waves of depredations all while shining a light across the land and sacrificing itself for the rest of Europe in its time of darkness.
At its most pressed our culture was its most complete, and, prizing courage above all other virtues, produced its embodiment—the hero—in countless numbers.
Seeing is Believing
Since then however we've learned to avoid heroism. Survival required it. Unfortunately, in so doing, our values corrupted, making them vague and warping their meaning. It is testament, then, to the integrity of the generations of families that carried them intact in the hope of their open restoration.
Pádraig Mac Murchaidh (Grandfather)
Sean Réamonn Mac Murchaidh (Father)
Raodhmann Mac Murchaidh
The Mac Murchaidhs
I’m the 3rd generation of the Irish hospitality tradition, the family tavern (teach tábhairne). I was raised inside this environment of cultural expression, community belonging, and a tapestry of representative brands, products, and behaviours that embodied the entire local and national identity.
Traditional ale houses in Ireland have underpinned our culture over the ages and housed the generations of custodian families that sustained them.
My family is recorded as far back as 1602, (with such names as ‘Redmon McMurchie’) and then later with the Raparees (Ropairí) of the 1700s, where my namesake, Raodhmann ‘na Rannta’ Mac Murchaidh and the other people of Beirn (Muintir na Beirnigh), performed their responsibilities in a single role that combined the Gaelic poet and warrior.
Depiction of Rapparees by M.L. Flanery
Hospitality, integrity and expression, both makes and maintains who we are and it is an honour to carry on such custodianship in today's time of inverted values.
Restoring a Visual Backbone
Without heroes to ennoble us, our cultures' integrity continues to fracture, representing our continued inability to appreciate our inheritance and interpret who we truly are.
With reminders, however, we can honour our difference, restore vision to the willfully blind, and inspire heroes to rise again.
Gaelic Greatness Since 600BC
2,500 years of Gaelic culture, accrued from a wealth of greats, their feats and the artefacts they’ve passed down remind us to never again bargain away the uniqueness within us for mere convenience.
Responsibility transforms and because we all have differences the Gaelic hero proves that with courage we can turn them into our greatness.
When I went home to Ireland I discovered heroes. It’s time we all saw them again.
An Cnota Gaelach
Our Symbol—The Irish Cockade
Cnota Gaelach means the ‘Gaelic knot’ or cockade—a traditional worn decoration that ranges from displays of allegiance and standards to rewards.
The logo’s rectangular background is an abstraction of the traditional ribbon that formed the cockade—a plain piece of fabric that can be attached quickly on the lapel or chest.
While the logo’s font is sans-serif—a universal style—the Insular Script ‘G’ is indicative of native Irish language typography to communicate its Gaelic provenance.
The ‘Gaelic Cockade’ is Cnota Gaelach’s commitment to standards, the value of the independent and expressive belief in self and difference, especially in these times of global uniformity.
However you spend your days, I’d like to inspire you to believe in your own worth, and be bold enough to express your vision as much as the heroes that make up who you are.
Great minds think alike
Cnota Gaelach is based in Monzennakacho, an area in Tokyo known for its traditional industrious roots and today’s burgeoning independent creative rediscovery.
Feel free to get in touch or stop by.
Dhá dtrian den bhua—Dealramh
‘Two thirds of victory is appearance’—Irish Proverb