A story to honour quick wit and intelligence

The Giant’s Causeway is an area of about 40.000 interlocking basalt columns. The result of an ancient volcanic eruption on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland. The honeycomb pattern was formed as solidified lava cooled and contracted, it is fractured in a similar way to drying mud. On either side of the North Channel (Ireland and Scotland) there are identical basalt columns to be found, both part of the same ancient lava flow. The storyteller of the legend tells us that the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant.

The Irish giant Finn McCool (Fionn mac Cumhaill) was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Finn accepts the challenge and builds a causeway across the North Channel using chunks of the coast and throwing them into the sea; allowing Finn to cross over to Scotland. Benandonner however is massively big and Finn beats a hasty retreat, trying to hide from his much bigger foe. Finn’s quick-thinking wife Oonagh disguises Finn as a baby and tucks him in a cradle. Benandonner sees the size of the ‘baby’, he reckons that its father, Finn, must be a giant among giants. He flees back to Scotland in fright, destroying the causeway behind him so that Finn could not follow.

The storyteller

Lucy Gunawan’s was inspired and touched by a personal travel experience to the Causeway. That cold and stormy winter day (December 2014), the visit left a lasting impression. The Giant’s Causeway is a magical place where you can walk on the columns like stepping stones. Lucy was struck most by the mix between geological wonder and the beauty of the legend.

Above all, we at Perfectibility of Man, aim to  to honour the quick wit of Finn’s wife Oonagh with the Giant’s Causeway line.  She actually saving the fleeing hero of the legend. At the same time, our designer transposed the natural beauty of this magical place to a timeless and precious piece of jewelry.

Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland
Geo location: 55.2404999, -6.5124302
December 2014

Photo: Lisa Williams made this photographe at Giant’s Causeway