CHRISTINE JORDAN

After studying Industrial Design at Carlow IT & Furniture Design and Materials Research at DIT Christine (Cullinan)Jordan worked in product innovation and development, then furniture production, designing sleek comtemporary ranges of office and bedroom furniture for small manufacturing companies  in Ireland. 

An opportunity to combine her interest in cooking and product design came up when she branched into specialist kitchen design working for top end German and Italian brands in kitchen design studios in Dublin and Galway. Project management came next for both commercial and domestic interiors before becoming a lecturer for the technical modules of design courses at Griffith College Dublin & Galway IT. 

She was guest designer on RTE's Beyond the Hall Door twice, and designed a show kitchen for their live event in the Point Theatre in 2000. A piece of furniture crafted from native fiddle-back sycamore and elm was chosen for the EBS Excellence in Craft exhibition at the RDS Horse Show.

During all this, everything food related was her other passion. Cookery lessons as a young child were the catalyst. She worked in restaurants in Dublin, Rome and the US doing everything from food preparation to baking, waitressing and front-of-house. She started private catering when only 16. In the summer of 1994 she leased the bar and restaurant in the Clifden Boat Club, and happily churned out gorgeous lunches for holiday-makers and locals, receiving a great review in an article about Connemara in The Sunday Press.

A life-long interest in all matters culinary has resulted in Tasteworks Cookery School - offering adults and children a range of classes in a most picturesque setting on the banks of the River Barrow. 

A very successful 2005-2006 season with all courses booked out months in advance has led to development and expansion for the 2006-2007 season. Two new tutors joined and a huge range of courses were offered.

Tasteworks is now taking a break, as Christine is going to the USA for one year, so classes will resume in September 2008 with a new exciting range of classes influenced by her travels.