Tag: Showcase

Feltmaking at The RDS Showcase 2023

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland

Even though Feltmakers Ireland was not invited to demonstrate at Showcase this year, there was felt to be seen courtesy of two of our members.

Caóilfíonn Murphy-O’Hanlon showing wool paintings of landscapes and items with prints of her work.

http://www.cushlaofgullion.com

and Juliane Gorman of http://www.felthappiness.com was there showing her fabulous hats.

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.

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Application dead line for Showcase 2023 (short notice)

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland

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 on Friday 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.

Kind regards,

The Showcase Team

Feltmakers Ireland @ Irish Showcase 2022

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland

The guild of Feltmakers Ireland was invited to take part in SHOWCASE IRELAND 2022 to demonstrate the craft of feltmaking.

Showcase Ireland, Ireland’s Creative Expo ® is one of the country’s largest international trade shows. Over 4,000 buyers visit the event from across the world,

This year we were asked to participate with only a week’s notice, which was pretty tight but we managed to rise to the challenge of showing what felting is about over the 4 days of this event.

It was a great opportunity to tell people about the guild of Feltmakers Ireland and we hope that we have opened the door to future opportunities for those in our guild who sell their work in larger quantities to participate in this event in the future.

There were many interested people who stopped and enquired about our guild, about the felt making process  and the felt pieces that were on display. Each day our stand changed what pieces were shown depending on what maker was demonstrating.

Our contact in DCCI was very happy that we managed to pull this off with so very little preparation. Given the positive feedback our stand generated she was hopeful  that we can do this again in future years, hopefully with more advance notice.

Feltmakers Ireland would welcome the opportunity to do this again. With more notice we would be able to  have  time to advertise beforehand on social media  and on our blog.

We would also open the space, and the manning of the stand, to all our members, hoping that as many as possible of our members who sell their work could take part and be able to share their creations with the retail sector.

We think this could be a great showcase of the talents of our members and the possibilities of making quality products using felt.