Best Product Awards to over 25 exhibitors at Showcase Ireland
FROM Best Product category winners to the Highly Commended, this year’s Showcase Ireland judging panel has awarded more than 25 awards to painstakingly selected exhibitors.
Showcase Chair Mary Palmer (l-r), Home Category winner Miriam Cushen and DCCI’s Rosemary Steen
Gift Category winner Serena Grimes of Snugibabog Knitwear, Showcase Chair Mary Palmer (left) and Rosemary Steen, DCCI
Anneliese Duffy of Tidings won the Fashion Category award, presented by Showcase Chair Mary Palmer (left) and Rosemary Steen, DCCI
Emmett Herbert accepted the DCCI Best Product award on behalf of Una Burke from Showcase Chair Mary Palmer and the DCCI’s Rosemary Steen
Ireland’s premiere exhibition opened to visitors, including domestic and international buyers on 27 February, just one day following the judging of new season collections overseen by Brian McGee of DCCI, Showcase Ireland Chair Mary Palmer and Lisa Cunningham of LEO, Ireland’s Local Enterprise Offices. All told there were six Best Product awards including a new recognition for sustainability and one Overall Winner named at this year’s expo.
“(Showcase Ireland) is bigger and better than ever,” said the expo’s Chair, Mary Palmer when she spoke at the awards from the expo’s Talk Stage. “We are really excited to be back and touch the goods and see them. We are all aware of how important it is to actually handle the fabrics and goods.”
The Overall winner at Showcase Ireland 2022 was Molloy & Sons of Donegal Tweeds for the quality of their locally sourced, spun and dyed yarns and fine woven woollens.
“We are the sixth generation weaving on the one spot,” said Kieran Molloy of Molloy & Sons when he spoke exclusively to Pynck.com at Showcase Ireland. “The yarn that is spun and dyed is locally within 20 miles of us and our main sellers are locally spun, dyed, woven and finished.”
Badly Made Books was the winner of the new Sustainability Award category, selected as Best Product against the Highly Commended Nunaia and Kopper Kreation. In another sustainable effort founder and maker Sean O’Sullivan sources materials for notebooks with minimal printing impact by reducing the quantity of ink used on his recycled paper notebooks.
The inaugural winner of the new Sustainability Category was Sean O’Sullivan of Badly Made Books, presented by Showcase Chair Mary Palmer and Rosemary Steen, DCCI
“I noticed that there weren’t many people competitively making notebooks in Ireland from recycled paper,” said Sean O’Sullivan when he spoke with Pynck.com at the expo. “I got the idea after making my own children’s book and deciding that instead of publishing I would make some copies.”
The Gift Category overall best product was the Donegal-based Snugibabog Knitwear while the Home Category winter was Cushendale in County Kilkenny Ireland. The Jewellery Category went to Lynsey de Burca in Galway, and the Fashion Category to Irish Linen Shirt Company in Kilkenny.
Contemporary designer Lynsey De Burca won the Jewellery Category, presented by Showcase Chair Mary Palmer (left) and Rosemary Steen, DCCI
The DCCI award from the Design & Crafts Council Ireland was won by Una Burke, a leather maker who has designed for Rihanna and Janet Jackson as well as the Star Trek Discovery series, and the Local Enterprise Showcase Award went to Tidings.
Niamh Gillespie of Tidings was presented with the Local Enterprise Showcase Award by Showcase Chair Mary Palmer (left) and DCCI’s Rosemary Steen
The Overall Best Product in Showcase was Molloy & Sons Donegal Tweeds, Kieran Molloy accepting from Showcase Chair Mary Palmer (left) and DCCI’s Rosemary Steen
The Edit, one of the design installations at Showcase Ireland of best products winners
At Showcase Ireland the DCCI Feature Area exhibited award-winning designs and crafts
See all of the award winners online at https://showcaseireland.com and visit the new digital platform Showcase Connect to get in touch with expo exhibitors.
Tags: Accessories Arts & Culture Fashion Homeware Jewellery Showcase Ireland Enterprise Ireland LEO DCCI
