Jewellery

Culu Design

Wicklow based Culu Design is a small Irish jewellery studio that creates bold, colourful, handcrafted statement earrings and necklaces using polymer clay. Everypiece of Culu jewellery is designed, mixed, layered, cured, sanded and finished by brand founder Louise O’Hara who was making polymer and beaded jewellery for 20 years before leaving a corporate sales job to establish her brand. Louise’s designs are for expressive lovers of colour and she is inspired by a myriad of sources including the nostalgic colour palettes of her childhood, music, film and everyday objects. Louise prides herself on her attention to detail and clear communication when dealing with customers and her entire process is designed around small batch, low waste production - mixing colours in-house, reusing polymer clay offcuts, and making each piece to order or in small runs. Culu Design is already available from an impressive number of respected craft and gift shops across Ireland including Arboretum Carlow, The Collective Dublin 2, Garrett Mallon Design House Carlingford and The Cat and The Moon in Sligo.

Find Culu Design at Stand L58 in the Local Enterprise Office Showcase.

Fashion 

Jerusha Marley is a designer and illustrator based on the west coast of Ireland. Born in Gloucestershire, England and raised in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, she studied Fine & Applied Arts in the University of Ulster graduating with a BA Hons Degree. Jerusha’s work is rooted in hand-drawn art inspired by Celtic mythology, knotwork carving and the natural world. She weaves these elements into mandala-style artworks that carry deep spiritual meaning using theories of sacred geometry to guide the structure and flow of her drawings. Her wearable art pieces, in the form of beautiful silk scarves, are explorations in balance, harmony and connection. Pictured here, for example, is her Horse Magic silk scarf with hand rolled hems which captures the strength, grace and grounded presence of the Irish Cob horse.

Find Jerusha Marley at Stand L44 in the Local Enterprise Office Showcase.

Home & Gift

Twigín of Kenmare

Ciara O'Connor and her family moved from Dublin to her mother’s hometown of Kenmare in 2022. The designer and artist, who specialises in free motion embroidery, was inspired by the creativity and entrepreneurship of this busy market town and prompted to find ways to work her existing art practice into a range of sustainable, eco-friendly gifts that would bring her work to a wider audience. Focusing on her thread drawings of Irish literary, music and revolutionary icons, she set about sourcing the most ethical, environmentally-aware suppliers she could find. The result is Twigín, a sustainable  gift brand with a range of tote bags, notebooks, greeting cards, mugs and art prints. Ciara’s Irish Icon Collection features the faces of well known Irish people, while the colours she employs are those of the Irish landscape - gorse yellow, foxglove purple, forest green and the fiery orange of Montbretia. The brand is only a year old but is already stocked in a number of shops including The National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin, Girls Gallery in Killorglin, Nest in Kenmare and Forest & Flock in Bantry.

Find Twigín of Kenmare at Stand L64 in the Local Enterprise Office Showcase.

Wellness 

Wasi 

Based in Bantry in Co. Cork, Claire O'Sullivan’s WASI Seaweed Skincare is a brand with sustainability and quality at heart. WASI started out with two dozen jars of seaweed pesto for a local health food store and has quickly evolved to become one that is widely stocked in stores across Ireland including Meadows & Byrne, Weavers of Ireland, The Ballymaloe Shop and Avoca. Wasi’s products are packed full of seaweed - a magical native skincare ingredient full of nutrients which promote collagen production, skin regeneration and skin elasticity. Sustainability is a key driver for this brand where there is a focus on everything from responsible sourcing of raw ingredients to eco-friendly packaging. The range includes a beautifully-scented body oil, a handmade bar soap, a seaweed infused facial oil, a seaweed footscrub with lime and ginger and a seaweed infused beard oil. 

Find Wasi at Stand L30 in the Local Enterprise Office Showcase.