Design & Crafts Council Ireland

A wonderful weekend celebrating Irish craft and design at The Glucksman’s Craft + Design Fair.

Thank you to everyone who took part, and to Mary Blanchfield for joining the launch and meeting the makers. Congratulations to this year’s award winners:

🏆 Best Newcomer: An Gee Chan
🌱 Sustainability Award: Coppiceworks
✨ Best Display: Farraige

Thanks to The Glucksman for another brilliant celebration of Irish makers and design.

A closer look at the intricate detail and beauty of the Carrickmacross Lace in Michael Stewart’s AW26/27 Couture, Paris, dresses as part of Standing Ground: Ireland-France, Savoir-Faire, Innovation and the Future of Crafts at the National Museum of Ireland.

Theresa Kelly, Martha Hughes, Bríd Deery, Áine Hanrahan and Sarah Hughes from Carrickmacross Lace admire their 4000 hours of collective work. 📸 Julien Behal

Close-ups of the detailed work 📸 Karen Cox

The work is now on display, along with photography and a documentary on its making, until January 10th.
Standing Ground is organised by Design & Crafts Council Ireland (DCCI), in collaboration with the French Embassy in Ireland and the National Museum of Ireland, and funded by DCCI with support from Maison Vermont and LVMH Métiers d’Excellence.

For more information, visit link here- bit.ly/4ABi1tp

Irish Design Week 2026 is brought to you by Design & Crafts Council Ireland.
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🎬 We rounded off our Monday evening keynote, ’Ireland’s Cultural Capital - Moving from Funding to Investment’ by meeting some of the team behind the video for, ‘Did ye ever get The Ride at The Wake House?’, a collaboration between composer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist ‘RÓIS’ & hhh’.

In conversation with Tom Watts, Programme Director of Irish Design Week, they charted its course through the awards process leading up to being recently crowned ‘Best Youth Music Video’ at the First Cut Youth Film Festival.

“The term ‘creativity’ is not a separate industry,” said Alexandra Vostokova (dance artist, emerging choreographer and director). “It is a practice and approach, anyone can have funding which is essential but it creates short-term thinking. What artists are missing are structural supports such as spaces.”

Photographed (L-R): Tom Watts, Adam O’Reilly (Director & Producer), Alexandra Vostokova, Marlon Hiraldo (Styling) and Cian Hamilton (Cinematography).

Irish Design Week 2026 is brought to you by Design & Crafts Council Ireland

#IrishDesignWeek2026 #IDW2026

Print design and publishing were examined at our Monday evening keynote, ’Ireland’s Cultural Capital - Moving from Funding to Investment’.

This was explored through Issue XII of New Word Order, a concrete case study of what institutions gain when they invest in creative and cultural production.

PJ Matthews (CFA Director) discussed ‘engaged creativity’ as an attempt to break down old ivory tower idea of universities while Executive Editor Dr. Jonathan C. Creasy discussed student engagement through creating an editorial board, as they whittled down 600 submissions to 20, and how this practical hands-on experience of all aspects of the publishing process brought a professionalism to the output.

This literary journal is produced through UCD’s Literary Editorship class, led by Executive Editor Dr. Jonathan C. Creasy with design partner Rossi McAuley of Distinctive Repetition and produced in partnership between the Creative Futures Academy (CFA), University College Dublin and the National College of Art and Design.

Photographed (L-R): PJ Matthews, Dr Jonathan Creasy, Louise Allen (Director CFA), Ruth Hegarty, Managing Editor of Publications at the RIA

For more information, visit: bit.ly/3WCozZQ

Irish Design Week 2026 is brought to you by Design & Crafts Council Ireland

#IrishDesignWeek2026 #IDW2026

This evening we explored ‘Ireland's Cultural Capital - Moving from Funding to Investment’ at one of our keynote events.

✍️ The Irish Writers Centre discussed their collaboration with Brand Central to create their new brand redesign and website which went live today.

Mags McLoughlin (CEO) of the Writers Centre spoke about how they considered their own brand story before starting the process and the significance of value alignment.

⚡ “Be collaborative, be strategic, be inclusive, be focused,” were the key takeaways from Ger Whelan, Founder & Creative Director, of Brand Central who led us through the research phases as iterations were refined before selection.

Photographed (L-R): Mags McLoughlin & Tara McEvoy (Communications Manager) from the Irish Writers Centre, Michelle McGuire (Partner & Digital Lead) & Ger Whelan.

For more information, visit: bit.ly/3WCozZQ
Irish Design Week 2026 is brought to you by Design & Crafts Council Ireland

#IrishDesignWeek2026 #IDW2026