SOME 9,000 buyers, almost 2,000 from overseas, are expected to flock to the R.D.S. over the three days of Showcase Dublin 96 the 20th annual Irish craft, gift and classical fashion trade fair, which runs until Wednesday, 17th.
Officially opened by The Minister for Enterprise & Employment, Mr Richard Bruton, sales figures should be well up on last year's £23.4 million taken over the three days, with additional sales during the year totalling almost £100 million, which meant the creation over 750 new jobs.
This is the biggest trade fair in Ireland with 550 exhibitors, many of them small businesses for whom Showcase Dublin is the main outlet. Organised by the Crafts Council of Ireland, the nub of the fair is a special craft village displaying some of the most original and flamboyant exhibits.
Here are virtuoso performances by wood turner, David R. Comerford, with monumental pieces in burr walnut fit for a palace in ancient Rome, delicate sculpted jewellery, by Pamela Wilson, in forged metal inspired from iron age artifacts, and rugs by a team of six who worked on a V'Soske Joyce project, Focus on Floors, and came up with such brilliant ideas that these rugs are more likely to end up on the wall than the floor.
Awards where given, in several categories, by Forbairt, with the Overall Forbairt Award going to Maxine Mearn's company, Limited Editions, which makes clay clocks in Co Limerick. Category winners included Pat McCarthy for textiles, Melissa MacGillycuddy's, Slumbers Ltd, Co Cork, for fabric design, and Irish Wildlife Mobiles, of Dungarvan, Co Waterford, for giftware.
Knitters still form the biggest group, and according to Bord Trachtala, who organised the overseas attendance, the Japanese are particularly attracted to this area, and, with 76 exhibitors, will have no shortage of choice.
Joan Millar was unable to pause for breath as orders, for both her machine and handknits, flooded in while, Sorcha, the Cork designer of the luxurious and sensuous, was feeling confident that sophistication would have wide appeal, as would Nicola Murray's rustic rib knits, with celtic buttons which, so beautifully, catch the feeling of the wild.
There is extraordinary furniture, with elongated chairs a speciality of Eric Connor, and sculptural pieces in wood by Paul Berg, who particularly likes a conical shape. There is pottery galore: Bazantine hats and silk scarves, modelled on snake like dancers, and total originality from Seamus McGuinness, whose Dallan Studio, in Co Clare, is a one man enterprise, where he works with layers and layers of hand painted fabric creating landscapes in the round.
It is expected that the international buyers alone will spend £33 million Showcase Dublin, organised by EuroFairs Limited on behalf of the Crafts Council of Ireland, is the single biggest source of immediate export orders for Irish craft companies, and is the cornerstone of Bord Trachtala's overseas promotional programme for the industry.
