Iris Verhoeven, a Dutch textile artist interested in historical textiles and weaving, is creating an interactive digital map of over 400 textile-related locations across Europe. These include the following: weaving museums, exhibitions of tablet-woven finds, flax processing centres, textile displays, historical workshops, craft museums, artisan shops, fulling mills, and more.
Definitely give it a look! While the demo doesn’t show museums in Ireland, it is interesting to explore museums in other European countries digitally. There is a National Wool Museum in Wales! Most listings have a paragraph or two describing what you might encounter when visiting.
Each listing is linked to its website and its location on Google Maps.
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The Design and Crafts Council of Ireland’s (DCCI) Made Local campaign launches today, Thursday, the 29th of May. The event kicks off at noon.
Several Feltmakers Ireland members are participating in this year’s Made Local campaign. If you’re a designer or maker interested in future DCCI events, you can learn more about joining here: – https://www.dcci.ie/members/why-join-dcci/
For a complete list of Irish craft and design makers and retailers participating in Made Local 2025, visit DCCI’s online directory at www.madelocal.ie. There, one can search for makers and products by location.
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CraftNI‘s August Craft Month 2025 exhibition is now accepting applications. Makers are invited to address the contexts of the open call below –
“Do you feel the tug of elements of tradition that are important to you in your craft? Is it the traditional techniques, in use for centuries, that you love to use in a contemporary way? Or is it the traditional values of crafts which are one of your drivers? Co-operation, place, community?
Perhaps you feel released from the bonds of tradition, your chosen discipline enabling you to pursue your ideas freely. Or perhaps you want to turn your creative focus inwards, towards the concept of binding and/or unbinding.”
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Currently, three awards are open to makers in Ireland: the RDS Craft Awards, the Leitrim Design House Awards, and the Design and Craft Council of Ireland’s Future Makers Awards. Two awards are open to those not enrolled in education or recent graduates.
The RDS Craft Awards
Applications will open for the RDS Craft Awards on the 5th of May, 2025. It is a competition open to all craft makers living on the island of Ireland and Irish-born craft makers working overseas. The work of emerging and established makers is judged separately, with specific prizes to support emerging craftspeople. The Awards will be made from a total prize fund of €60,000.
The Emerging Maker category is open to individuals who aren’t necessarily recent graduates, and there is no age limit. Instead, there are these requirements:
Focus on heritage, skills, and sustainable practices.
Practice commenced within the past 10 years, with the determination to grow their craft at home and abroad.
Work must be made and sourced in Ireland.
The deadline for applying is the 23rd of June. There is no fee to enter.
The Leitrim Design House – National Design, Craft & Art Awards
To mark 25 years of supporting creative Irish businesses, The Leitrim Design House has launched the National Design, Craft & Art Awards to celebrate excellence in craftsmanship. The award stems from the organisation’s resilience and sustainability as a business over the past two decades.
As a reflection of this longevity, The Leitrim Design House invites makers, artists, and designers from across the country to respond to the theme ofReused Sustainability.
The overall winner will receive €2,500 and a solo exhibition at The Leitrim Design House in 2026. A Special Commendation Prize of €1,000 will also be awarded to a runner-up.
Deadline for submission of applications: Friday, the 27th of June, 2025.
DCCI invites students and emerging makers* to apply for this opportunity to showcase their talent. Future Makers is a DCCI initiative that recognises the talent, potential, and creativity of designers and makers shaping the future. Why apply? ▪️ Win up to €3,500 to financially support your career ▪️Gain recognition for your talent, potential, and creativity ▪️Each winner will receive a mentoring package valued at €2,000
The deadline is the 20th of June.
* Emerging Makers – Currently in post-graduate studies in a craft or design discipline or graduated from full-time study between 2-6 years ago at the date of entry to Future Makers, and/or have established a craft or design enterprise in the past 6 years.
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
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On Sunday, the 1st of June and Monday, the 2nd of June, volunteers from Feltmakers Ireland will demonstrate wet and needlefelting at the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland‘s Irish Craft Village, at Bord Bia Bloom in Phoenix Park. We will be in the central pavilion within Area 26, near the Conservation Area. Our book, ‘Exploring Irish Wool for Feltmaking’, will also be for sale, along with some of our members’ works. Come by and say, ‘Hello’!
Feltmakers Ireland guild member Caoimhe Tuthill (Boann Irish Felt) will display her felted work at the MeathMade booth, Grand Pavilion stand G117.
This June bank holiday weekend (Thursday, May 29th– Monday, June 2nd, 2025), Bord Bia Bloom, Ireland’s most unique gardening, food, and sustainable living festival, returns for its 19th year.
Filled with colour and creativity, the event heralds the start of summer with a dazzling display of glorious gardens, fabulous food, and enthralling entertainment to entice visitors of all ages.
Spanning a 70-acre site in Dublin’s leafy Phoenix Park, Bord Bia Bloom is one of the country’s largest outdoor experiences, attracting over 100,000 visitors annually. This year, visitors can soak up the sights, sounds, and tastes of summer over five buzzing days packed with live entertainment, talks, interactive workshops, dining, shopping, and so much more.
Bord Bia Bloom offers abundant opportunities to grow, taste, and learn. Tickets are on sale via Ticketmaster, and two children can go free with each adult ticket purchased.
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
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The Department of Environment, Climate, and Communications has released a draft consultation that the public can provide feedback on.
“The aim of this consultation is to seek views on a draft National Policy Statement and Roadmap on Circular Textiles. The document proposes the steps necessary for Ireland to achieve a circular economy in textiles.”
Submissions close: the 7th of July, 2025.
The draft Policy Statement and Roadmap, along with an executive summary, are available for download at the linked website below.
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
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The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City has an exciting exhibition – ‘Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction’. This show spans early-20th-century works by Sonia Delaunay, Hannah Hoch, and Sophie Taeuber-Arp, whose textile practices parallel their painting and drawing, mid-century works by Anni Albers and Ed Rossbach, and contemporary works by Rosemarie Trockel, Andrea Zittel, and Igshaan Adams.
“Highlighting issues of labour and identity that are intertwined with modern textile production, Woven Histories argues that weaving and textiles are the quintessential link between lived experience and art.”
If you cannot travel to New York, there are 80 images online from the exhibition.
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
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Every year, during Dutch Design Week—the biggest design event in Northern Europe—the New Order of Fashion (NOOF) presents a new generation of the most forward-thinking textile and fashion talents. For the 2025 Dutch Design Week (18-26 October), they will focus on the theme of regeneration, exemplified by a deep dive into wool’s material, environmental, and cultural workings. They seek designers who work across themes like biodiversity, community, ecology, animal well-being, indigenous knowledge, decolonisation & more-than-human design.
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
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On Friday, the 16th of May, twelve members of Feltmakers Ireland enthusiastically came together for our first in-person workshop with an international tutor since the COVID pandemic. Our teacher was the esteemed Canadian artist and teacher, Marjolein Dallinga, who has a wonderful hands-on teaching style, where students experienced the sculptural possibilities of wool.
We learned how to create three unique felted sculptures, each incorporating many stages of the complex techniques Marjolein uses in her artwork. As specific processes needed to be followed when the projects were dry, it was a choreographed dance!
Here is a lovely photo of some students gazing with adoration on their damp, in-progress work.
Students Watching
Throughout the three days, there were step-by-step demonstrations of techniques.
Everyone is hard at work.
Students Felting
Exhibition
At the end of the course, we had a mini-exhibition in the sunshine. It was wonderful to see how each student’s work came out!
Thanks to the Many
Many thanks to Suzanne Phelan for taking care of so many details and keeping everyone caffeinated. A tip of the hat to Elaine Peden for recommending Kilteel Hall – isn’t it beautiful? Also, thanks to Elizabeth Redding and Breda Fay, guild members who came by to lend a hand. ENORMOUS thanks to Elizabeth for bringing the tubes that we used to raise the tables—it was such a treat to have those! Of course, thanks to all the students who helped create such a focused learning community and knew how to laugh!
The warmest thanks go to Marjoelein for sharing her warmth, wisdom, and talents. We look forward to her return to Ireland!
Marjoelin Dallinga in Kilteel, Co Kildare.
Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.
Liberties College will have an Open Day tomorrow. If you are interested in courses starting in September 2025, the teachers will be available to answer any questions on Tuesday, 20th May, from 10 AM to 1 PM.
Note: Several of Feltmakers Ireland’s guild members are students at the Liberties College and greatly enjoy their studies and the school. The cost is very reasonable.
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.
