Who remembers this kiosk from the late 90’s?
Martin Gear started with a small kiosk in the Fairy House Market with only a dozen samples of his handcrafted gold jewellery. However, the image you see above is not his first kiosk, but rather his new kiosk in George’s Street Arcade that he moved to in the late 90’s. In the photo you can see him working on creating a new piece of jewellery and the amazing thing was that he managed to have everything inside from his handcrafted jewellery to his specialised equipment and workshop. It must have been the world's smallest manufacturing jewellers as it only took up 38 sq. feet.
It also got a lot of attention where, shortly after opening, he was interviewed by two of the major national radio stations and a lot of Martin’s works were also featured in many local and national newspapers.
George’s Street Arcade is an interesting place to be (and visit). It’s one of the oldest in Ireland, dating back to the early 1880’s, and is often visited by famous celebrities. The likes of Merryl Streep, the Edge, Sinead O’Connor, Michael Stipe from REM, and the hottest band of the day – the Fun Lovin’ Criminals. Michael Caine even made a movie there!
Whoever was in town at the time would often visit the Arcade between gigs and sound checks. The people who worked there didn’t bat an eyelid when a celebrity walked in which is why they felt comfortable visiting because they were never harassed.
Martin was later forced to leave behind the quirky world of George's Street Arcade when he had to move to a larger premises in Mary Street; he simply no longer had the space for his vast amount of stock. The new store is located just a minute from the Church Bar in City Centre (on 5 Mary Street) and has one of the largest inventories of rings in Ireland. It’s also been featured on TV as well as several radio stations.
Make sure to pay the new workshop a visit to find out for yourself what makes it special. You may even catch a glimpse of Martin’s artistic side while he paints an oil painting, or even find out other interesting stories from when he was on George's Street Arcade.
