Hen’s Teeth, Dublin. A dialogue on the lack of cultural spaces in Ireland 

A hybrid gallery, hi-fi café in Dublin 8 where art community meet, born from DIY pop-ups and crowdfunding to answer the city’s need for more cultural spaces

From DIY house parties to Dublin 8 icon: how Hen’s Teeth became a cultural space Ireland was missing

Hen’s Teeth was founded in 2015 by three Dublin locals and lifelong friends – Greg Spring, Russell Simmons and Rosie Gogan-Keogh. What is now a landmark cultural venue started out as something closer to a roaming house party: pop-up dinners, exhibitions and one-off events held in kitchens and living rooms, stitched together by a shared love of art, music, food and design.

From the beginning, the ambition was bigger than a shop. As Managing Director Rosie Gogan-Keogh puts it, Hen’s Teeth was always meant to be “a place where art, music, culture and design meet to create experiences and bring colour into people’s lives”. The early years were about building that ecosystem: a community of Irish and international artists, DJs, designers and makers gathered first online, then in real life.

Key milestones followed quickly. A 2017 group show, 60×60 at the Royal Dublin Society, connected Hen’s Teeth with a wider network of Irish artists and confirmed there was an audience for what they were doing. A first brick-and-mortar space on Fade Street, in the heart of Dublin’s creative quarter, allowed the team to experiment with their format: one night a gallery, the next a dinner venue, the next a music space.

That short-term lease brought an important identity crisis: was Hen’s Teeth a lifestyle store, a gallery, a bar, a restaurant? Stepping back, the founders realized the answer was “all of the above” – what they really wanted was a destination that could hold multiple forms of culture at once.

Kickstarter, Bernard Shaw and the fight to keep independent cultural spaces alive in Dublin

When the Fade Street chapter ended, Hen’s Teeth faced the problem familiar to many independent venues: how to secure a larger, more ambitious space without losing their soul. The solution was community.

A Kickstarter campaign raised €47,634 from 594 backers to fund the move to Blackpitts in Dublin 8. It was more than a fundraiser; it was a referendum on whether the city wanted spaces like this to exist. The timing coincided with the closure of beloved venue The Bernard Shaw, sharpening public conversation about the erosion of independent cultural spaces in Ireland. For many backers, supporting Hen’s Teeth became a way of voting for a different future for Dublin’s nightlife and creative life.

Crowdfunding also set the tone for what Hen’s Teeth would become in the 2020s: audience-backed, community-accountable and unafraid to argue that culture deserves real square footage, not just a hashtag.

Inside Hen’s Teeth Blackpitts: design-led store, café, gallery and hi-fi lounge in one open-plan space

The Blackpitts premises – around 2,600 square feet – is an open-plan playground that can flip from bright café to buzzing party without losing its identity. The team knew they wanted the space to feel like an extension of their neighbourhood as well as their brand.

Working with designer Acky Fakhry and AB Projects, they translated Hen’s Teeth’s visual language into architecture: saturated colour blocking, playful materials and flexible layouts. Yellow curtains allow the room to be divided or opened up for events. A table made from recycled bottle caps nods to sustainability while adding texture and humour. Reflective glass panels, plants and layered lighting give depth and movement.

What was originally planned as a back-of-house studio has since been opened up and folded into the public space as extra seating and a dedicated music zone. Today you can move from the shop floor past the gallery hangs and straight into a hi-fi lounge atmosphere – coffee, cocktails or wine in hand – without ever leaving the same continuous room.

Design-led retail, Sando Paradiso and Treats & Booze: how Hen’s Teeth reimagines food, drink and shopping

Hen’s Teeth’s shelves were never meant to be generic retail. Creative Director Greg Spring leads the product curation, with the whole team involved in scouting and selection. The focus is design-led, joyful and often a little eccentric: limited-edition prints, homeware, apparel, records, chocolate bars, coffee table books, zines and objects that blur the line between art and everyday use.

During Dublin’s first lockdown in 2020, their “Treats and Booze” selection – sweets, natural wines, craft spirits and pantry goods – was pushed to the front of the shop and then online. What began as a survival pivot has since become a core part of the business, managed and grown by Lily Finlay and sourced from independent producers around the world.

By the mid-2020s, Hen’s Teeth had further evolved its food offering with Sando Paradiso, an in-house, Japanese-inspired sando bar built around shokupan milk bread, bold fillings and specialty coffee. It sits inside the venue as the casual, daylight counterpoint to Hen’s Teeth’s night-time personality: one space, two tempos, both rooted in the same design-driven, culture-obsessed ethos.

Collaborations, markets and Good Shout Studio: connecting artists, brands and communities

Collaboration has always been in Hen’s Teeth’s DNA. Over the years, they’ve worked with names ranging from Accidentally Wes Anderson to American DJ and producer Honey Dijon, whose Black Girl Magic exhibition with Brazilian artist Marina Esmeraldo turned the space into a neon-lit celebration of Black creativity. These projects showcase Hen’s Teeth’s role as a facilitator: matching artists, themes and brands to create something neither could achieve alone.

In parallel, Hen’s Teeth’s creative agency arm – formerly Hen’s Teeth Studio and now operating as Good Shout Studio – connects brands with the same creative community that animates the venue. Rather than chasing volume, the team treats Hen’s Teeth itself as their primary client and is selective about outside partnerships, working only with collaborators who align with their values and can add to the wider ecosystem they’re building.

Since 2022, regular markets and pop-ups have turned Blackpitts into a platform for emerging homeware labels, fashion designers, illustrators and food projects. Monthly events bring together DJs, tattoo artists, vintage sellers and craft producers, underlining Hen’s Teeth’s role as a micro-festival that happens to have a permanent address.

Why Hen’s Teeth matters in 2025: weddings, late nights and a living answer to Dublin’s cultural gap

By 2025, Hen’s Teeth is firmly established as one of Dublin 8’s key cultural anchors. On any given week, the calendar might feature a listening party, a cookbook launch, a Latin music night, a slow-food dinner, a vintage clothing pop-up and a wedding reception – all in the same room, flipped and re-lit to suit the occasion.

The venue has become a favourite for couples who want to get married in a space that feels like a gallery, a restaurant and a party all at once, as well as for promoters looking for an intimate but high-impact room for live music, club nights and community events. Extended opening hours and a serious sound system mean Hen’s Teeth can hold its own as a nightlife destination without abandoning its daytime café and gallery roots.

Most importantly, Hen’s Teeth stands as a working answer to the question that sparked its Kickstarter: what happens when a city decides that independent cultural spaces are worth defending? In the case of Blackpitts, the result is a venue that is part living room, part playground, part gallery and part dance floor – a place that proves art, music, food and design don’t have to compete for space. They can share the same table.

Hen’s Teeth

Blackpitts, Merchants Quay, Dublin 8, Ireland. Independent cultural events venue, gallery and hi-fi café in Dublin 8, where art, music, food, design and community all come together under one colourful roof.