Showcase at the RDS- Irish Creativity at its Best

Yesterday I spent the day up in Dublin attending Showcase 2011, Ireland's Creative Expo at the RDS. This is a trade show where retailers from around the world come to buy for their shops and members of the press, like myself, can attend to suss out the trends and see all that's new. As you know, on 1 February I'll be launching my "Love Irish Crafts" blog campaign so this was the place to be to meet these creative craftspeople.


Here in the centre of the hall is Creative Island - which featured 75 different Irish craft makers and designers. They were specially selected for the quality of their new and innovative products - that are "Imagined, Designed and Made in Ireland". All throughout the show - you saw this great logo in the booths of designers that did just that.

As part of my campaign I'll be highlighting a huge range of creative people over the next year - at least one per week but I'd say I'll be able to do much more than that!

If yesterday taught me anything - their is a great entrepreneurial spirit in Ireland right now despite the political situation. People are so creative - they are passionate about their products and they are thinking outside of the box and figuring out creative ways to get the word out about their product.

Ireland has a lot to be proud about and this creativity stimulates tremendous exporting outside of the country which brings in millions of euros each year.

Mary Kennedy from Nationwide was working her way through the show and her program will air tonight about what she saw at the show. Be sure to tune into that to give you a glimpse of what is on offer and certainly keep your eyes open for any features in the papers.

I have an endless list of ideas of people and products to feature on my blog in the upcoming weeks and of course throughout the year.

Do send me ideas -I wasn't able to visit everyone at the show in one day but I'm contacting them via email as well but if there is someone who lives near you that you'd like to recommend or if you are a crafts person yourself - don't' be shy!