Ómós Guesthouse & Restaurant

Collection Christiansborg Palace

Surface Brushed nickel (custom-made)

Architect Ryan W. Kennihan Architects

Interior Asca Studio & Relief Gallery

Location Abbeyleix, Ireland

Year 2026

Photographer Irina Boersma César Machado

On the outskirts of the Irish town of Abbeyleix lies Ómós – a guesthouse with 16 rooms and a restaurant seating 40 guests. Behind the venue is Irish chef Cúán Greene, who has previously worked at both Noma and Geranium in Copenhagen. With Ómós, he wanted to create a place where hospitality, food, and surroundings naturally go hand in hand.

The project comprises a carefully restored Victorian guesthouse and a newly constructed restaurant. From the first encounter with the place, the experience is marked by a clear consideration for materials, the landscape, and the atmosphere the house creates.

Cúán Greene was born in Dublin in 1992 and grew up in an Irish-speaking home with his artist parents, Róisin de Buitléar and Terry Greene. An interest in art and design has followed him since childhood, but it was the kitchen that captured his attention early on. By the age of 15, he had already begun an apprenticeship at restaurants in the South of France.

His years in Copenhagen also gave him a strong interest in Scandinavian design and its uncompromising approach to quality and materials. Consequently, Cassandra Bradfield and Sofia Olsson from the Copenhagen-based Asca Studio, as well as Rebecca Norberg from Relief Gallery, were among the first collaborators on the project.

The interior design was developed over three years and took shape at the same time as the buildings were designed and constructed. Materials, bespoke fixtures, lighting, and furniture were therefore conceived as an integrated part of the architecture rather than a finishing touch. Consistent details and craft-based references to Irish traditions tie the rooms together, even though each room has its own distinct expression.

Locally crafted joinery solutions, art, and historical furniture are combined with custom-designed pieces and international collaborations. The result is an interior that builds upon the Irish craft tradition, while simultaneously adding a contemporary and international perspective.

Several of the furnishings and fixed interior elements were designed specifically for Ómós by Cassandra Bradfield and Rebecca Norberg and produced locally for the project.

Together with Ryan W. Kennihan Architects and landscape architect Edward Shackleton, the design team has created a place where buildings and landscape are experienced as a natural whole. Although the site extends over nearly two hectares, the place feels calm, intimate, and human in its scale.