In the shops, the January sales might be on their last legs but for four days starting next Sunday there will be a frenzy of buying in the RDS in Dublin. It's Showcase time again and this year the trade show for Irish gifts, crafts and fashion expects to attract 11,000 buyers, with 2,000 of these coming from North America, Europe, Australia and Japan.
No one going to Showcase realistically expects to finds anything radically different from what was on offer the year before. Indeed, regular Irish visitors often feel there is a sameness about the event with many of the 600-plus stand-holders offering little in the way of product variation from year to year. Indeed the greatest variation is within the product categories themselves. Claddagh rings are there beside avant garde pieces by younger designers such as Erika Marks; Joan Miller's cashmere designer knits are sold alongside touristy sweaters emblazoned with Guinness logos; and John Rocha's Waterford glass is under the same roof as grow-your-own-shamrock packs.
Despite - or maybe because of - this varied mix, the show is going from strength to strength, serving up a wide range of merchandise appealing to the ethnic market, primarily in North America and also to European buyers who are mostly looking for high design and innovation. "Every year we commission independent surveys to find out how Showcase is working" says Les Reed, chief executive of the Crafts Council. "Our last survey showed that 92 per cent of buyers intended coming back, which is a very high repeat level for any trade show." The forecast for immediate sales and follow-up orders this year is £15 million.
To encourage new talent, the Crafts Council promotes a very popular and well-supported New Faces section with craft workers selected for inclusion by a jury organised by the council. "The idea is to give these people the experience of doing a trade show," says Reed. "That way they might get test-orders from companies who are unwilling to give a major order to an unknown craftsperson, but who are still interested in the work." This year there are 15 New Faces including furniture makers, textile designers and jewellers.
Duncan Russell, a furniture maker, is exhibiting here for the first time but like many of the exhibitors he has already tried out his goods on the public at the Crafts Fair in the same venue just before Christmas. An English-born designer who moved to Ireland last year, he makes one-off pieces of furniture from Irish oak as well as other home-grown timbers. With a clear eye on product development, in addition to the larger pieces of furniture he also makes smaller, more commercial pieces such as sculptural CD rack and some solid wood clocks.
Other names to watch in this New Faces section include jewellery designer Sean Osborne, who is also a qualified gemologist and diamond grader. He is showing his range of stunningly stylish, very wearable pieces. Sheena McKeon, in addition to producing luxurious hand-dyed scarves in rich colours and textures, is moving in a particularly exciting direction by developing a new range of designs suitable for interior fabrics. It is a smart move, because a recent growth area in the spend at Showcase has been in interiors and tabletop products.
Beyond the New Faces section, Carlingford-based company Down to Earth's funky lamps stand out, as do the highly decorative wall hangings made by Patrica Murphy, a Dundalk-based textile artist and Showcase veteran.
A very welcome antidote to the many stands selling chunky pottery is the bone-china tableware for everyday use produced by another Carlingford-based company, L'Atelier. The firm is constantly changing its look and this year's collection features contemporary-design plates, cups and saucers with colourful graphic patterns to appeal to those keen on the 1970s-retro look. Irish linen is an obvious eye-catcher for the more upmarket buyer and particularly the super-luxurious Irish linen sheets produced by Fergusons of Co Down, which this year is introducing a new range of furnishing fabrics.
A long-time Showcase exhibitor is fashion designer Michael Mortell who this year is adding a City range to compliment his successful range of Country sportswear. The RDS trade show is of course not his only trade-marketing outlet, but he continues to show there because of the contacts he makes, and also because, as he says, "there are a lot of things there I want to buy myself". Last year, Scotch House in London bought his range of country casuals - "someone remarked that it was a bit of a coals-to-Newcastle job," he says - and this year he is hoping for similarly presitigious orders.
Enterprise Ireland works hard to get the right international buyers in. In addition to buyers from retail outlets, ranging from small craft shops in Boston to London's Harrods, mail order companies and electronic retailers have been heavily courted. A team of buyers from QVC, the biggest TV home shopping channel in the US, is flying in and stand-holders would be wise to go into sell overdrive as soon as one of these buyers approaches. QVC is the biggest single buyer of Irish gift, craft and fashion items and last year it sold £7.2 million-worth of Irish merchandise to its 70 million viewers.
This is Showcase's 23rd year. In the early years, overseas buyers came mostly from North America looking for stock for small gift and craft shops catering for the Irish American market. By now, according to Les Reed, their numbers are matched by European buyers. What this new mix of international buyers will do to the type of merchandise bought at the show will be interesting to watch.
Showcase is at the RDS from Sunday: it is not open to the public
