For over 50 years, The Gifted Craft Fair has been a staple for many to kick off their Christmas shopping, and this year it’s back at the RDS for 2023. It’s a great way to kick off the festive season, with over 400 exhibitors including over 100 artisan food stalls. 35,000 customers are expected to attend the event over the 5 days of the show and this year there was a huge emphasis on sustainability and minority entrepreneurship. So here are just a few of the companies to follow at the Gifted Craft Fair 2023:
If you know anyone that prefers to write their Christmas to do lists on a notebook then Badly Made Books is the company for them. Created by designer and illustrator Sean O’Sullivan, they state on their website “we try to use the best of ingredients – our original recipe combines recycled paper, staples, tape, handcraft & machine efficiency to deliver our fresh-baked books…paper fibres can be reused and repurposed. Our main note paper is made from used coffee cups and all our favourite papers come from secondary materials, have post-consumer waste ingredients or at the very least contain a little dash of industrial by-product.”
According to their website Bee Natural is a family run company that uses natural bee wax as “Alternative to plastic cling film. Reusable and washable food wraps! Our beeswax wraps are made from unbleached, unrefined, 100% pure beeswax from Co. Louth, Ireland.”
The company was launched in The Cottage Market Drogheda in June 2018. The brand is now stocked in nearly “20 shops/craft shops/market stalls in Ireland as well as our own online shop”
Founded in 2020 by brother and sister team Niamh and Ruari, they were looking to open a food business in something that they were passionate about and the ingredients could be sourced sustainably. Through their research they found that they could open a food business that met their three criteria of being nutritious, delicious and sustainable…the innovative solution they found was a way to collect brewers’ spent grains. They would then repurpose these grains into a range of cereals, nutrition bars, banking mixes and bread-based products.
According to their website “BiaSol is a family-run company in the heart of Ireland creating a range of innovative food solutions. We strive to make highly nutritious, zero-waste food products easily accessible in Ireland.”
The concept has been a huge success and their products are now stocked in more than 100 retailers across Ireland and The UK.
Started in the owners kitchen, the company first began in 2012 In their own words “I make my soap as simply as possible, using only natural oils, butters, colours and pure essential oils -making them in small batches and curing them for 4 to 6 weeks. I hope you enjoy them!” All the soaps are packed in recycled paper and avoid wastes as much as possible. Most soaps are vegan friendly and made “using olive oil, coconut oil, responsibly sourced palm oil, rapeseed oil, castor oil, sunflower oil and shea butter”.
Company is now stocked in more than 20 stores around Ireland and the brand has been featured in the likes of Image Magazine, The Irish Times and Today FM.
Dyeboo was created so that people on the autistic spectrum could make money from their art. According to their website The Artist will earn a commission for every product sold with their design – creating the opportunity for both recognition and revenue for the Artist.”
In addition they work with different charities and initatives in the area of autism such as Involve Autism, where Dyeboo sell the t-shirt design that the children at Invovle Autism summer camps make
The company now stocks Socks, Aprons, Bags, Cushions and T-shirts all created by their artists.
CEO Paul Harrington loved to draw and create and make clothing designs for friends and family, it was only after his wife Melconvinced him it could become a viable business that Paul started to think about building a clothing brand from scratch. He states on his website that “the vision I have is to create simple minimalist but beautiful designs, that reflect the version of life in Ireland that I know and believe in”
The brand works with Empower Eco and Eden Rainforest Project as their charity partners. and “to date, The Eden Projects has planted over 21,000,000 trees throughout Africa and Madagascar. Every t-shirt you buy on our Impact Collection, goes towards helping Empower to remove 1kg of plastic from our oceans or to the Eden Projects to plant 5 trees.”
Their product range now includes t-shirts, hoodies, socks, beanies, bags for men or women and notebooks.
Fóroige Network for teaching entrepreneurship is a specialist programme designed to teach business, academic and life skills of young people. During the programme the students Study all aspects of starting and successfully running a business, Receive a seed grant to start their business, Visit wholesalers to buy their business supplies, engage with local entrepreneurs and national companies, visit trade show to sell their products and prepare and present their business plan to investors.
As part of this the students attend the Gifted Craft Fair to pitch their businesses to attendees at the fair.
Like most charities at the moment The Dublin Samaritans are highly reliant on donations from the public to ensure that they can keep their essential mental health services going throughout the year. In 2021 they answered almost 1,000 a day from those struggling with their mental health.
This campaign encourages the public to purchase one tree in someone’s name and they will plant a tree in their name. So far, with the help of Coillte and Tree Council of Ireland and with the likes of Charlie Bird as an ambassador for the campaign has helped to plant over 1,000 trees to date.
The Irish language advocates are often overlooked in the area of Diversity and Inclusion, so it was great to see Meath based Glór na nGael have a prominent stand at the fair. The company is the main Irish language organisation and one of their core principles is to “the development of the Irish language in the family” Their extensive range of books are for Irish language enthusiasts for children of all ages and interests. While their website also features craft videos, fitness and reading videos as well as puzzles and word searches.
The brainchild of Alex and Joanna, the company was launched in 2017 after they saw a gap in the market for a quirky alternative to the traditional sock. Their website states that “we use accept only 100% combed cotton, certified Oeko-tex, and waffle on describing all the fancy 168 needle machine construction works precisely to create every sock uniquely strong and very soft” All their products are made from non-harmful materials and sustainability is at the forefront of everything they do, from the socks themselves to the materials they use in their packaging and distribution.
Based in Galway the company has now grown to have over 50 different options of socks. They work with charity partners such as The Irish Cancer Society for events such as Fathers Day and The Galway Autism Society. Now a team of five, they have custom branded options available for corporate clients and their stockists now not only feature more than 100 in Ireland and the UK, their products are also available in select stores in Australia, USA and Europe.
LauraLynn’s mission is to provide a Community of Care that delivers evidence-based, personalised services to children with palliative care needs, complex care needs and complex disabilities, while also providing family support services and a home to our residents where quality-of-life is paramount.
Their stand at the exhibition has a range of books and other materials, where all the money goes directly to support the hospice’s services.
Marina Leganowska is a Ukrainian national based in Dublin. A talented artist Marina is raising money for temporary mobile homes. These module houses will allow families in war-affected areas to survive winter. Her collection, entitled ‘Ukraine On Fire’, depicts a range of paintings that show what Ukraine was like before and after the invasion.
Her stand also features bags, teddy’s, candles and other materials with the Ukrainian colours – proceeds from these will benefit Ukrainians who newly arrived in Ireland.
The company specialises in ethically made soap, with no palm oil, zero waste, using natural rainwater. Their old fashioned approach to making the soaps reduces energy and all their packaging is plastic free. Their range of soaps uses the finest food based oils, natural plant colours,100% pure essential oils and that means that they are vegan friendly too.
Their range of soaps has more than fifteen flavours in addition to their range of shampoos and deodorants available too. From their base in Co Clare, they are stocked in more than 500 outlets and their impressive online shop ships to all all around the world.
The story of a mother and son. The son, Andy, had sensory issues and didn’t like the feel of the socks he had. However, after Poly (the mum) got him bamboo socks, Andy said “these don’t hurt”, that was the eureka moment Poly needed to source and produce bamboo clothing so that others that have sensory issues don’t hurt when they put clothing on.
Poly launched Poly and Andy in the summer of 2019 and with their mission of To surround your toes with a layer of love and snugness”. Now stocked in five independent shops as well as their website, they have a range of socks for male and females, of all ages for you to try or give as a gift.