Nicky's Rag Tales

I like the idea of Craft Fairs but the reality is sometimes different, they are popping up at the speed of light at the moment and the thoughts of buying hand crafted unique goods is appealing. The idea of paying to go to one of these fairs I find objectionable unless they are for charity. After all, the stall holders are paying to be there and all the public, (ie you and me) are doing is looking and possibly buying.
This weekend the National Crafts and Design Fair is on at the RDS in Dublin. The entrance price has come down though and now costs a more reasonable 10euro. I had in my mind thoughts of finding ten top picks but of course that didn’t quite work out. I did however find four that I really liked. The food hall by the way is really good and there are loads of really great Irish artisan Cheeses, breads, chocolate and several Christmas specific goodies. I bought some seriously good Indian sauces which I tried and bought gorgeous chocolate from Chez Emily which I was delighted to see because we miss them in the Organic Food Market Temple Bar on a Saturday where the Oyster Club meets (Oyster club is a loose collection of bods who meet up on a Saturday and have become firm friends over the years!)

Lorsha Design is by Loretta Gallagher, a textile designer who hand paints each piece of her collection. A combination of silk and Irish Linen makes fabulous wall hangings, table runners, as well as fashion accessories. Reasonably priced and in a beautiful range of colours

Wall Hanging by Lorsha 95 Euro

By Lorsha

Bag by Lorsha Design

Michele Hannan’s Ceramics were by far the best from a large selection at the fair, I really liked the colour and textures used.

Two dishes by Michele Hannan

I’ve been having a love affair with scarves in the last few years, I suspect it may be an age thing but they really have the ability to transform an otherwise plain outfit and bring some colour to the face so I was really quite taken with these substantial silk scarves designed and printed by Susannagh Grogan. They were reasonably priced at 98 euro

Silk Scarf Susannagh Grogan

Silk Square by Susannagh Grogan

There were lots of hats on offer but the best of these comes from Marian Flood who makes her cloches in both velvet, felt and wax. They are available in a wide range of colours, the jewel ones being the most striking. Marian has been making hats since the 80′s and I met lots of women who were returning customers. The Hats and Scarves are 50 euro’s each with felt Fascinators staring at 35euro.

Marian Flood’s Hats are available from Linen and Ware in Greystones and can be contacted at marflood@unison.ie