Today's guest post is from Lynn Switanowski about Showcase Ireland.

It's smack dab in the middle of trade show season and gift shop retailers are looking high and low for new fresh finds for their stores. In our never-ending quest to bring you the latest and greatest products to sell in your stores, we jumped on a plane to Dublin to attend Showcase Ireland last week.

Showcase Ireland is the country's premier craft, gift, fashion and interiors trade fair featuring quality design products from Ireland's leading craft makers and designers. The initiative attracts up to 450 exhibitors and 6,000 buyers from around the world.

Every year, Irish creativity takes centre stage at Showcase, but it was especially prominent this year. The show had a new modern identity throughout the marketing materials and with how the show floor was set up (definitely different than what we are used to seeing at shows in the US).
This year's theme was to showcase the modern artisan approaches that craftspeople in Ireland are taking to bring fresh product to the marketplace. Based on what we saw, the days of claddagh and shelailgh are gone. Unique, creative products abounded at the show—and many of them are available to be imported to the US.

I'm going to post about some of our favorite finds over the next few days.

LAF – A New Approach to Recycled Jewelry

Lesley Frew enjoys making old things new again. Taking the plastic bags that we commonly discard, LAF designs gives them a second life by transforming and reusing them in wonderful pieces of artisan jewelry

Owner Lesley Frew is a designer based in Belfast, she graduated from the University of Ulster with a BA (hons) in Fine and Applied Art, specializing in Textiles in 2007. At LAF, Lesley creates contemporary, ethical jewelery using discarded plastic bags—giving these materials a second life by transforming and reusing them. When asked about her work, Lesley muses, "I enjoy confronting people's expectations by taking a discarded material, giving it a new value and showing that it can be beautiful."

You can contact her at les_frew@hotmail.com or via phone at (IE) 44 78490 34346
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Button & Co – Transforming one object into multiple designs

For jeweler Elaine-Sarah Comerford of Button & Co., Showcase 2010 was twice as nice. Elaine scooped up the overall prize for Best New Product at Showcase as well as Best New Product in the Jewellery section for her Button Charm Bracelet. The two-tone silver and gold bracelet depicting old-fashioned buttons was lauded for its quality, design and innovation. Elaine puts a new twist on jewelry by translating everyday objects into wearable pieces of art that delight and surprise.