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CALL US, BARACK. That’s the hope of a family company in Ireland which has served up an alternative vessel to the Waterford Crystal bowl normally used to present shamrock to the US president on St Patrick’s weekend.
Instead, there is a distinct possibility that tonight’s presentation of shamrock from Taoiseach Enda Kenny to President Barack Obama could be made using a miniature traditional Irish phonebox. The box was handcrafted by Burke Joinery Ltd, a Dublin family joinery business set up in 1985.
The MD and founder of the company, John Burke, told the Ray D’Arcy Show on Today FM this morning that he had approached the Department of the Taoiseach with his idea and had hand-delivered the model phonebox, measuring just under a foot tall, to Kenny’s team on 6 March.
The phonebox miniature has gone to Washington DC with the Taoiseach and protocol will make a decision later today on whether it will be used in the presentation.
Burke said that he was inspired to begin manufacturing replicas of the iconic wooden-frame Irish phoneboxes by this award-winning short film, Bye Bye Now, by Ross Whitaker and Aideen O’Sullivan of True Films.
Watch it here:
via TrueFilmsTV/Youtube
John Burke said:
I looked at a short film Youtube called Bye Bye Now which was directed by Ross Whitaker and Aideen O’Sullivan. When I looked at it, it was a 15-minute short film that won awards in America, believe it or not. It was all about the destruction of the Irish telephone box. When I saw them being taken down and broken and dumped, I just couldn’t believe it.Sympathy struck and I thought, ‘No, I have to do something about this,’ so it went on the back boiler, I’m a joinery constructor by trade. We were doing great in the boom, 2005, 2006, everything was going great but then construction went through the floor.
So I had to start thinking outside the box, pardon the pun.
The phoneboxes made by the Burke company are now being shipped around the world – in some Irish-themed pubs the largest ones are being used for exactly what one might think: as a “quiet zone”. The irony, of course, is that the calls being made from inside them tend to be on mobile phones – the rise of which led to the decline in use in street phoneboxes in Ireland.
John Burke explained:
People are asking me, why are you making these when everybody has a mobile phone? The reason is, if you’re in a pub, a restaurant, your offices, your phone rings, you’ve a private call coming to you, a personal call, you step inside the phonebox, take your call or make your call, step out and it’s all done in your privacy.
The phonebox reproductions come in a range of sizes from lifesize to an ornamental version. They are named after famous Irish writers, from Yeats (the biggest) and in descending order of size, the Shaw, Joyce, Wilde, and the Beckett, which is the one that has headed to the White House.
Here’s John and the team:
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Great idea,wish the joinery shop all the best of luck with this venture
Enda Kenny “Taoiseach Who” transported to the White House in an old Phone Box.
How weird. I actually dreamt last night about making a call from one of these :)
And it stole your money.
And then you smashed the phone in rage for swallowing your last bit of money. nightmare!
Or the units off the call card ;)
I think you need to call someone Keith…
Seen one last year in timoleague co cork on way to kinsale , was delighted to see it brought back memories of queuing to make calls at the local phone box , as for you Winding down , it’s called nostalgia and reminiscing you TOOL
Good stuff all round ….and don’t feed the troll chateau
I was only being curmudgeonly – no need to make it personal! Sure nobody on here has stood inside of a phonebox in I’d say 20 years!!
I’d love to see tall aquariums inside them.
Saw these guys at Alltech International Craft Brew And Food Fair a few weeks ago. Thought they were a brilliant idea especially for pubs or even an office. They were a fairly solid build so you could step in and take a call and the crowd noise wouldn’t get in. They were’n't cheap though but at least they’re Irish and hand crafted. Here’s a photo of the various sizes we saw: https://www.facebook.com/jardotie/photos/a.736325479724404.1073741827.170130176343940/736325643057721/?l=47d95d81a4
How does this qualify as news? Its shamelessly free advertising – Barack Obama “might” be getting one. Wow….
Douche
Ah go away ya grump , what is wrong giving an Irish joinery business a plug on st paddys weekend anyway did someone strap ya into a chair and force y to read the article – go away and do do some winding down yourself – happy paddys weekend
Lol fair enough :-)
I might enquire about one of those. My Mrs has been looking for a real old one for a while. ..wants to banish me out to it in the garden as I’m a smoker. (I don’t smoke in the house as it is)
Seen one in Moynalty used as a tourist information cente, also have heard of them used as a mini library.
In the UK old phone boxes are often used as a first aid. Defibrilator medical centre and sponsored by BT.
Thats just what we need, the tradition has always been a bit weird, now its gonna step up to surreal.
No such thing as a ‘traditional Irish phone box’. The Brits built um first and any we built just followed that design.
If the Brits build um” I suppose we should knock down the gpo the dail and the other 500 historical buildings in Ireland you clown, shut up and go moan somewhere else
Who said anything about knocking um down brains? For that matter what do supposedly ‘traditional phone boxes’ have to do with historical Irish buildings? You need to take a deep breath and go read a book
What a shame Enda decided to present Obama with the Shamrock in the usual Waterford Crystal vase. What an opportunity this would of been for an irish company to be seen on the world stage. Best of luck to them great idea.
`Iconic` you’ve got to be joking. Mildly `interesting` at best.
That Bye Bye Now video is wonderful
You know Enda welcomes your phonecalls?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMwFdx0PiuM
In your opinion! You donkey
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