290 
When dazed couple Emma and Paul searched through the ashes and rubble of their recently destroyed workshop,
The Very Forgettable Fire 16MAR21
Down To The Wire
Emma Jane begins her rise from the ashes
previous post
The Very Forgettable Fire 16MAR21
n the face of hardship and tragedy, one thing that’s pretty 
crucial to hold onto is your sense of humour.
naturally, they didn’t feel much like laughing.
“The scene was just perfectly absurd,” smiles Emma today. “Since the fire happened last Wednesday, we’ve been in a daze, just trying to pick up the pieces. Literally. Spotting The Unforgettable Fire was the trigger to just exorcise all the confusion, the hurt, the sense of loss. For the past seven years, this has been my home-away-from-home.”
A home-away-from-home where Emma created acclaimed wire sculptures that have found homes all over Ireland, and been featured in TV shows, newspapers and magazines aplenty. When we visited the workshop in March 2016, the word was already beginning to spread on Emma’s beautiful work. Work that now, with all her tools destroyed in the fire, is very much on hold.
It was Wednesday, March 10th, at 8.15am, that Paul returned to the wooden workshop he shared with Emma at the back of their Greystones home to find that the small stove inside had managed to spit out some hot ash. “Paul had simply gone to the front gate to let Irish Water in, and within those few minutes, the entire floor of the shed just seemed to be in flames. Soon, the electrical wires overhead had fallen and one of them welded itself to the trampoline. It was all just mayhem, and madness…” 
Turns out, Emma’s workshop isn’t covered by her domestic insurance policy, and so, a bigger, better, stronger building will have to take its place. One that can be insured.
With this in mind, her friend, Rachel O’Sullivan, has set up a gofundme page – and you can donate here.