Tomorrow is a big day for knitwear designers, furniture makers, potters, jewellery designers, wood turners and other craft-folk, for it sees the opening of Showcase at the RDS in Dublin. This platform for Irish craft is our largest annual trade fair: over its four days some 11,000 buyers - 1,600 of them from overseas - will drop by.
But is a certain tiredness becoming discernible in Irish craft? Is that innovativeness which brought huge praise to contemporary Irish craft and design flagging somewhat? Could it be that what was fresh and chic a few years ago, is now a little stale and dated?
Showcase may be the most important marketing forum for the craft and gift industry, but is more needed - specifically an effort to keep the creative energy of innovation itself alive and well?
Leslie Reed, chief executive of the Craft Council of Ireland, points to two initiatives at Showcase which focus on and celebrate the energy and the new talent on display. The first of these, New Faces, which began last year, is a space in Showcase dedicated to newcomers. Here, in Hall N, 14 new companies producing items as varied as crochet designer evening wear, handcrafted "fat fairies" and basketry will be showing who's new in craft. Talent is also highlighted by the annual Forbairt New Product awards, winners of which which will be announced on Monday.
On a more general level, however, Reed admits there is a change in the craft market that is increasingly pushing craft designers and makers to develop new product lines or styles in their work.
"In the past, the craft industry and giftware sector was not run on a style-cycle like fashion. But now there is a definite pressure on the industry to respond to consumer demand for new products. It is not as sharp a style cycle as the spring/summer, autumn/winter cycle of fashion but it nonetheless exists."
Concomitant with this style cycle is the need for shops to change their displays more frequently. "The merchandising of interior products has become increasingly sophisticated - especially on the Dublin high street - and I think that it is taking traditional retailers time to respond to this. Places such as Meadows and Byrne in Cork and the Design Centre on Nassau Street in Dublin are aware of this need to develop a fresh look at merchandising."
Interestingly, the HQ gallery formerly on the second floor of Powerscourt Townhouse is moving on Monday next to the first floor of DESIGNyard in Temple Bar in a new collaborative venture between the two bodies. Previously competing for similar markets, the two have decided to pool their talents.
Judy Greene, a potter, shop-owner and partner in Design Concourse Ireland in Galway city, feels very strongly that good display is crucial to selling craftware. "I feel that while there is a handful of good shops selling products because they are displaying well, a lot of craft shops are lagging behind in terms of display. You can't display pottery on glass, for instance: it should be on wood. Also, if you mix a lot of products together, none of them looks its best. If the display is tired, the sales will become tired.
"Six or seven years ago, the craft industry was doing exceedingly well and shops got complacent but I'd say some of them are feeling it now."
Avoca Handweavers, for whom Showcase is the most important trade fair, for buying as well as for selling, is an example of how some Irish companies are getting it right. With a 50 per cent growth in sales of its own knitwear products and up to 20 per cent growth in overall stocks for each of the past two years, one wonders what exactly is the key to such success.
"Our overall theme is that what we see as Irish craft is quite different from the old ideas of Aran sweaters, shillelaghs and shamrocks. It has a more contemporary, design-oriented feel to it," explains director Simon Pratt.
Avoca Handweavers' biggest customers are not tourists, but natives: the company finds wet and wintry Sundays are as busy as sunny, summery ones and that the delicatessen sector has also shown remarkable sales growth. So perhaps crafted food is the latest trend in the craft market. The next few days will tell.
All Irish: lamp by Alan Ardiff (winner of last year's Forbairt New Product Award), jewellery by Reaction, dress by Grainne O'Reilly and menswear by Pat McCarthy Menswear, all at the Showcase trade fair at the RDS