THIS IS IRELAND

You might associate Dublin more with green rolling hills than emerald stone staircases, but that's only because you haven't met Róisín Lafferty yet. The designer and gallerist is reimagining her country's design scene one daring move at a time.

- HARRIET QUICK

The hall of an 1830 villa in Blackrock, a seaside village in Ireland’s County Louth, renovated by Lafferty with architecture by Dublin Design Studio. Chandelier by Shake Design; staircase in Vitoria Regia quartzite; ceiling and walls in Farrow & Ball's Ammonite.

"The house looks directly onto the Irish Sea," says Dublin-based interior designer Róisín Lafferty. "The site is magnificent irrespective of the season or weather. The design scheme was about celebrating that to the maximum."

Her latest project, the transformation of a 19th-century villa on Ireland's east coast, shows why Lafferty is one of Ireland's most influential contemporary design voices. Since founding her Dublin studio 15 years ago, she has become known for her deft renovations of historic homes, but she is also a shape-shifter, just as comfortable designing modernist spaces. In addition to homes in locations ranging from the U.S. to the Middle East, her portfolio extends into hospitality, from luxury treehouses for a hotel in Cork to an upcoming renovation of Murray's Doonmore Hotel, on Inishbofin, Ireland's westernmost island.

A Murano chandelier from Artemest hangs in the main room of Irish interior designer Róisín Lafferty’s gallery in Dublin. Vintage bench by Jorge Zalszupin; wall lights by Draga & Aurel.