Two exhibitions currently running showcase the beauty of Irish silverware, long renowned for its quality, and now being used to stunning effect in contemporary homes.

Father and daughter Michael McCrory and Cara Murphy's (www. caramurphy. com) striking tableware can be seen until November 26 at the 'Silver Connections' exhibition in the National Crafts Council of Ireland gallery, Castle Yard, Kilkenny.

It is showing alongside Deirdre McCrory's enameling and printmaking.

In Dublin, a major exhibition of the work of Seamus Gill, (www. seamusgill. com) the 2004 recipient of the Excellence in Metal award at the Philadelphia Museum of Art craft show, is taking place at DesignYard, in Cow's Lane, Temple Bar, until November 24. It will feature 25 new pieces of work. Gill's work has been purchased for the permanent collection of the National Museum of Ireland; the Irish Assay Office, and the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Murphy, who leads research in contemporary silversmithing at the University of Ulster, aims to blur the boundaries between inside and out with her organic tactile creations. Her latest body of work sees a move away from highly functional objects as she focuses on form, drawing with her materials.

Her father's designs are based on balance of line, form and proportion. He has recently been using digital technology and this new work is based on his current research into deep drawing and pressing of silver.

Gill, who trained at the Grennan Mill, Thomastown; Letterkenny RTC; the College of Art in Belfast, and NCAD, going on to work in New York and Canada before setting up his Dublin studio, has titled his exhibition '25 Years On'. Candlesticks, water pitchers and vases are some of his practical pieces.

His quirkier creations include a series of watering cans.

"Others are purely sculptural, " he says.

Gill's tabletop sculptures exploit the malleability and movement of a flat sheet of silver in a three dimensional plane, glorifying its beauty and working qualities.

Sharing a workshop with her father, Murphy creates teapots, salt and pepper grinders, wine coasters, cutlery and candleholders. "My pieces are mainly quite large in scale and are centred around the landscape of the table and the ritual of eating, " she remarks.

Sculptural, yet also functional, when not in use the pieces are often displayed, Murphy says. Working to commission, Murphy and Gill's designs range in price from ?10,000.

"Lots of people want something different and are intrigued about the whole commissioning process, " Murphy says. "They often come to me because they have seen something I have done before but generally they have very little idea about what exactly they want.

Although they may have thought they wanted something traditional, through discussion based on people's perception of tableware, something different may develop.

"I bring something to them but the design is not dictated by me. It's carried out through discussions and drawings and people love being involved. Something grows from that and that's the exciting part."

Both Murphy and her dad serve up stylish tableware.

The move to more casual eating and the loss of dining rooms in many modern homes has not led to a falling off in interest in silverware, she says. "People may not have a separate dining room but they still like the idea of sitting down to a well decorated table with family and friends. There's a growth in home entertaining and people want one-off pieces for their tables."

The fields surrounding her Hillsborough home provide plenty of inspiration as titles like 'Furrows' and 'Gathered Pebbles' suggest. "I'm always influenced by things I see in the environment. When I was living in Glasgow and London, it was cement mixers and bridges that sparked ideas."

Birds landing on a roof gave rise to 'The Perch', an ebony square with silver cups. "The movement is ever evolving and that interested me. When I make something someone may look at it and display it in a completely different way and I love that. It's about the life of the piece and how it evolves."

Silver can add a real ambience to a dwelling, observes Gill. "We may have electric lighting now, but there is still something magical about silver in candlelight, " he says.

Even in this era of the timepoor, many relish caring for their silver. "One woman who has bought a lot of my work says she finds the whole process of sitting down and cleaning her silver relaxing, " Gill says. The good news for those preferring to spend their free time on other pursuits is that a lot of the pieces in his exhibition are in a new alloy, which is tarnish-free.

Whereas your granny may have only produced the silverware for special occasions, today's homeowners want to live with their silver, says Gill.

"If someone buys a teapot, they want to use it regularly and I have to be conscious of that, whereas a lot of the older mass-produced English pieces were made for display only."

The great thing about purchasing silverware for the home is that it is an investment, Murphy says. "Recently a German man bought candlesticks from me because he had missed out on antique candlesticks at auction in London, " recalls Gill. "When he looked at the quality and price of both pieces, he decided he was making a huge saving while also getting something that he could pass onto his grandchildren, " he says. A lot of grandparents are buying silverware, rather than washing machines, for their grandchildren's wedding presents. They want something that they will be remembered by and quality silverware will be there long after they . . . and I . . . am gone."

Ronald Le Bas, Assay Master for Ireland who is responsible for overseeing the quality of precious metals or the hallmark system, notes that in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries silverware was in daily use and produced in large quantities. "The antique shops are full of these items, all commanding high prices, yet most of them were massproduced in factories. Pieces hand-made by silversmiths such as Seamus Gill, are fewer and even more valuable."