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EVER WONDER HOW the products you buy end up on the shop shelves? Ruth O’Connor went along to Showcase craft and design trade fair in Dublin’s RDS to meet the makers.
Pawpear:
Fresh off the back of collabs with Guinness and Trinity College, Pawpear is a colourful Irish stationery and print brand founded by designer and illustrator Kim Whyte. Having worked in London as a stationery designer, Kim returned home and launched Pawpear in 2022 as a celebration of Irish place, heritage and language – the name is even a phonetic nod to the Irish word ‘páipéar’. Kim’s designs are bold and vibrant and feature illustrations of landscapes, wildflowers and native fauna. We love her prints and cards which are designed and made in Ireland in collaboration with local suppliers and available online as well as through stockists including Article, Ardmore Pottery & Gallery and Born & Bred.
Stories by Ola
Stories by Ola stood out at Showcase with thoughtful new additions to two of founder Ola Wartak-Tolak’s signature ranges. She has just added fresh new colourways to her Droplets series pictured here, while her much-loved Coastline collection has been expanded with new oval serving trays. Inspired by the Irish coastline and made in small batches, these new pieces will be arriving in shops soon.
Twigín
Ciara O’Connor is a designer and artist who specialises in free motion embroidery and who has produced a range of products inspired by her thread drawings of Irish literary, music and revolutionary icons. Twigín, her sustainable gift brand, includes a range of products such as tote bags, cards, mugs and art prints. Her Irish Icon collection includes faces of well-known Irish people, including Samuel Beckett and James Joyce, with the colours inspired by Irish wildflowers. A relatively new brand at just a year old, it’s already stocked at The National Gallery of Ireland, Forest & Flock, Girls Gallery and Nest.
Orla Culligan
Orla Culligan’s colourful wares would brighten up any home. She makes slip cast ceramics from her base in Clonakilty, Co. Cork, where she is inspired by the flotsam and jetsam washed up on the beaches of her native East Cork. Her vibrant stoneware range includes beakers, bowls, flatware and vases in candy colours. She also runs courses if you fancy turning your hand to ceramics yourself.
Wild Atlantic Wicks
Their website isn’t all bells and whistles, but don’t let that put you off – Wild Atlantic Wicks have a huge range of stockists, including Waterstones, Shannon Airport, Kylemore Abbey and a host of gift shops and galleries nationwide. Suffice to say that they make really lovely candles that feature a crackling wooden wick rather than the usual type. The brand features the Irish language on its labels with a pronunciation guide and a little quote. Think Go Raibh Maith agat (Thank you), Máthair (Mother), Snámh Farraige (Sea Swimming) or Dóchas (Hope).
Jerusha Marley
Despite designing and running her own brand for several years now, 2026 was Jerusha Marley’s first time bringing her products to Showcase. Her work is rooted in hand-drawn art inspired by Celtic mythology, knotwork carving and the natural world. She weaves these elements into mandala-style artworks that carry deep spiritual meaning using theories of sacred geometry to guide the structure and flow of her drawings. She creates wearable art in the form of silk scarves and homewares such as the velvet cushion cover pictured here with patterns featuring lions, serpents, birds, mermaids and selkies.
MUD Pottery Ireland
The excellently named Mud Ireland is run by a husband and wife pottery team – Josh and Holly Lyness who take inspiration from land and sea and craft it into clay. The pottery is handmade by Josh in the village of Moira in Co. Down and designed to be both beautiful and practical – you can even throw the mugs in the dishwasher, they say. Most of their designs are inspired by Ireland – the Wild Atlantic Way collection, for example, is inspired by Ireland’s west coast and features a Donegal Speckle clay evoking walks on the beach as waves crash on the shore.
Kopper Kreation
Kopper Kreation is a multi-award-winning homewares brand that uses recycled and reclaimed materials to create unique, eye-catching homewares including lamps, lights, vases and candleholders. With a degree in engineering, founder Emmet Bossonet is inspired by industrial design and has a talent for creating things that are both practical and lovely from materials such as copper, steel and brass. He loves finding alternative uses for existing things, so you might even spot a discarded free weight as the base of a lamp or a mini vase made with salvaged science lab test tubes. Emmet also runs workshops where you can learn to turn a bottle into a lamp or to make a copper heart wall light from a recycled copper pipe – great for a group of friends or a team building event.
Sarah McKenna
Based in Bridge Street Studios, a 250-year-old building in Drogheda, Sarah McKenna is known for her evocative, often nostalgic, ceramics which bring a sense of beauty and calm to any home. Sarah makes everything by hand – wall art, platters, vases, candleholders, bowls and mugs and her Home Comforts collection is particularly popular with its red heart motif. Her new range, the knitted collection, features an Aran knit-inspired texture perfect for fashion lovers, crafters and those living abroad alike.
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