On Monday, the 20th of January, the Irish Grown Wool Council (IGWC) is hosting a panel discussion on how Donegal is taking its wool heritage into exciting new directions. From the quest for Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status for Donegal Tweed, to the growing demand for sustainable, innovative uses of Irish grown wool, discover how local businesses are blending tradition with forward-thinking ideas.
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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Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.
Feltmaker Ireland’s guild member Sandra Coote’s business, Crafts of Ireland, is a finalist for the Sustainability Champion Award supported by the Local Enterprise Office of Cavan at Showcase 2025. The awards will take place on Monday, 20th of January, at Showcase in the RDS as part of the overall event. The shortlisted companies were selected from the 105 Local Enterprise clients who will exhibit to national and international buyers from the 19th – 21st of January.
The Awards
The awards are divided into three categories: Best Newcomer, which recognises the top craft and design business making its debut; One to Watch, which highlights a business with outstanding export and international potential; and Sustainability Champion, which celebrates the craft and design business leading the way in sustainability.
Crafts of Ireland
Rooted in a sixth-generation family farm in County Cavan, Crafts of Ireland is a business devoted to preserving and promoting traditional Irish crafts and skills. Serving as both a craft studio and a heritage hub, it offers an array of experiences, workshops, and handcrafted products that celebrate Ireland’s cultural heritage. Their Irish Wool Needle Felting Kits feature fibre from their own rare Irish Roscommon Sheep, along with wool sourced from local farmers.
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.
Showcase Ireland is celebrating its 50th year of elevating Irish craft and design. It runs from the 19th to the 21st of January at the RDS. For more information, visit – https://showcaseireland.com/newfront
Tamzen Lundy Designs
Feltmakers Ireland guild member Tamzen Lundy will exhibit at this year’s Showcase. Tamzen creates quirky, sustainably made, woollen wet felted gifts. She will be in booth L90 in the Local Enterprise Office (LEO) area of the RDS.
“Calling small shops of Ireland… Would you like to replace some of your imports with local craft? Remove plastic tat from your shelves for something a little more sustainable? The power lies with you…”
In addition to Tamzen Lundy Designs, other businesses exhibiting at Showcase 2025 use felted wool. Here are a few: Jayne Gillian Designs, Alexa Design, Boyne Valley Wools, and Noelle Ferris Felt Artist.
Boyne Valley Wools is a craft studio in Co. Meath, beside the Newgrange visitors’ centre Bru Na Boinne. Proprietor Alison Fullam Gogan is a fifth-generation sheep farmer who spins wool by hand from her flock of Jacob sheep. The yarn is hand-processed and rich in natural lanolin oils, which make it waterproof. In addition, she creates felted wool paintings and sheep decorations.
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.
Showcase Ireland 2025 will occur from the 19th through the 21st of January, 2025 at the RDS, Dublin.
Showcase attracts buyers from Ireland and around the world looking for unique, design-led products in fashion, knitwear, jewellery, crafts, gifts, and home accessories.
Running for over forty years, Showcase has an impressive track record in attracting Ireland’s most talented makers and designers, along with buyers from over twenty countries. It features some 450 exhibitors, including leading Irish designers and manufacturers, and the very best emerging home-grown creative talent. Showcase is a B2B opportunity for clients who are wholesale-ready.
At Showcase, Local Enterprise Office (LEO) clients are located in a premium position (Hall 3 in the RDS) called the Local Enterprise Showcase.
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.
Four felters exhibited their work at Showcase Ireland 2024. This may not seem like a lot, but in 2023, only two designers/artisans exhibited work using the medium of feltmaking. So, there was twice as much this year!
Each of the artists from Showcase 2024 has her own unique way of working with the medium of felted wool. Two create wearable art, while the other two create art for the home.
Here they are, in A-Z order.
Alexa Designs
County Wicklow resident Alexa Zolich of Alexa Design creates luxurious Nunofelted wraps. Originally from Poland, she studied Textiles at the National College of Art and Design. You can view some of her work in person at Marion Cuddy at Powerscourt Centre, Dublin.
My nana taught me to knit and to crochet, but discovering the versatility of felting was a revelation to me as artistic expression. I found it soon became my therapeutic, go to textile medium instantly connecting me to the landscape at my door and allowing me to translate the textures, form and sense of place in my work drawing on past bonds and imbuing memories into each piece.
Guild member Karena Ryan of Karena Ryan Textile Art is based in County Galway. She combines hand-felted wool with stitch and works with Irish linens, tweeds and vintage Foxford blankets. Her felted lamp made from Irish-raised Galway wool was shortlisted for an award in the Home Category of Showcase 2024.
Produces made from wool. The square on the easel is a type of bio tile created by Ulster University.Organic farmer Fergal Byne, with yarn created from his sheep by Donegal Yarns.
Day Two
On the second day, the theme of the panel was ‘Wool Yarns; From Ewe to SKU’ and included –
Speaker Ngaire Takano is investigating alternative methods of scouring wool.A second slide shows an improved flow for scouring.Dr Tim Yeomans (in the blue shirt) shared about technical advances that could be applied to wool.
Feltmakers Ireland guild member Annika Berglund shared our book ‘Exploring Irish Wool for Feltmaking’ with the audience.
Annika and The Book.
Lastly, as part of the annual Showcase awards, the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland awarded the knitwear company Ériu, which focuses on using sustainable and circular Irish-raised wool, as the ‘Overall Winner’.
Join the Irish Grown Wool Council at Showcase 2024 for a series of curated panel talks on Irish wool.
Talks will take place on each of the three days of Showcase, 21st – 23rd January (RDS, Dublin), across the key themes of Sustainability, Fashion and Innovation, focusing on the past, present and future for Irish wool. Join us at the ‘Inspiration Stage’ for these talks at Showcase 2024.
Day: Monday 22nd January Time: 2pm- 3pm TIME CHANGE -> NOW 12-1 PM. Theme: Fashion / Design / Homeware
Day: Tuesday 23rd January Time: 11am- 12pm Theme: Innovation / Composites / International Best Practice / Products Development using wool
The three panels are made up of different speakers and are moderated by Rebecca Marsden Designer, Materials Researcher & Educator The Wool Hub and Forge Design Factory
Two of Feltmakers Ireland’s members have stands at the upcoming Showcase 2024 at the RDS. The show runs from Sunday, the 21st through Tuesday, the 23rd of January.
Karena Ryan will be at Stand C25, which is in the DCCI area. She has a lamp felted from Irish Galway wool, which has been selected to be displayed at the Edit Display and has been shortlisted for a Showcase award.
Caóilfíonn Murphy O’Hanlon – aka Cushla of Gullion, will be at Stand L63, which is in the LEO area. She is looking forward to meeting current and new stockists.
And just for your information, here are the news from Showcase in the DCCI GANS newsletter:
I hope this newsletter finds you well. January was a busy month with Showcase – Ireland’s International Creative Expo® returning to the RDS, Dublin on Sunday 22nd to Tuesday 24th of January. Showcase offered 385 exhibitors an opportunity to exhibit their collections to approx 4000 visitors from 27 countries.
We were delighted to see the much anticipated Showcase Awards taking place on the opening day of the fair. We were excited to see that the winner of the overall best product award was metal artist, Tom King from An Gobha, whose iron cross was created in celebration of St. Brigid.
The St. Brigid’s Cross was created as a work of metal art based around the traditional cross, with depth and with colour, to mark Ireland’s new national holiday celebrating the country’s first female patron St. Brigid.
Other crafts people at Showcase celebrating St. Brigid’s were Patricia O’Flaherty, Naomh Padraig Handcrafts, from Roscommon, you can see her beautiful St. Brigid’s rush work crosses on www.naomhpadraighandcrafts.com. Jennifer Rothwell Designs also had a beautiful collection of fashion items inspired by St. Brigid www.jenniferrothwell.com
As the first Irish public holiday named after a woman, St. Brigid’s Day gives us an opportunity to celebrate the role that women have played in Irish history, culture, creativity and society.
The Design & Crafts Council Ireland Academy (DCCIA) was launched as part of the Talk Stage programme at Showcase. DCCIA is an international specialised academy for education and training to the craft sector and will offer a series of apprenticeships. DCCIA welcomes everyone from design and craft beginners to established professionals. The launch was delivered by MaryJo Hoyne, Head of Craft & Education at DCCI and Maria Couchman, Senior Craft & Education Manager at DCCI. www.dcci.ie/academy
Showcase 2023 saw a continuation of the popular Talks Stage that hosted a variety of industry talks and expert panel discussions, you can view some of the events that took place over the three days of Showcase here.
The Dancehall (Fashion & Design) – was a new and exciting fusion of Showcase fashion and design with music and dance. To view the performance of The Dancehall event from the opening day of Showcase 2023 click here.
This is a opportunity for all members of the DCCI who wish to book an individual stand at Showcase 2023.
(It is possible that Feltmakers Ireland gets invited to participate as a Guild as we did last year. At the moment we do not know if that is going ahead, if and when we know for sure, we will go out to the members and look for volunteers.)
From the Crafts Council:
Dear DCCI Member,
We are delighted to announce the return of Showcase – Ireland’s Creative Expo® to the RDS, Dublin from the 22–24 January 2023. Showcase is presented by Design & Crafts Council Ireland with support from Enterprise Ireland and Local Enterprise Offices nationwide.
Once again, we will have the area at the front of the Main Hall, exclusively for ‘Design & Crafts Council Ireland’ members.
The details are as follows:
This area is open to all DCCI registered clients
There is no selection process, and you are welcome to send us in your application.
A special subsidy is included in the prices for DCCI clients to make taking part easier, financially.
How to secure your space
Please fill out this online FORM which has a strict deadline of 4pm onFriday 30th September 2022.
Showcase will acknowledge receipt of your email on submission of your form and we will get back to you by mid-October to let you know if you have been successful.
Feltmakers Ireland 