Living in West Cork, Ireland, Dr Claudia Kinmonth MRIA PhD MA(RCA) is a design and art historian whose approach to design history is informed by years spent restoring and making furniture. After studying at the Royal College of Art, London, she worked as a researcher at both the V&A and Sir John Soane’s Museum. Her first book, Irish Country Furniture 1700-1950, was published by Yale University Press. This was followed by Irish Rural Interiors in Art, a book that instigated exhibitions in Ireland and at Boston College, USA where vernacular furniture was shown with the early genre paintings that depicted it. In 2020, Irish Country Furniture and Furnishings, 1700 – 2000 was published. This was awarded the Michael J. Durkan Prize.