Showcase Ireland, the country's national trade fair for craft, design, giftware and interiors, returns to RDS Dublin in the new year for a three day run at the Ballsbridge venue.
The fair takes place from Sunday 17 to Tuesday 19 January. The year is 2027.
Showcase is a trade only event rather than a consumer fair, and that is what makes it commercially significant. It is the principal annual buying occasion for Irish retailers, department store buyers, tourism outlets and international wholesalers sourcing Irish designed and Irish made product, and for several hundred small manufacturers it represents the single largest order taking opportunity of the year. Exhibitors span ceramics, glass, jewellery, textiles, knitwear, food and drink gifting, stationery, furniture and homewares.
The event sits in a specific slot in the trade calendar. Running in mid January places it ahead of the spring buying cycle and immediately after the Christmas trading period, when retailers have just finished measuring what sold and are deciding what to commission for the year ahead. Buyers arrive with fresh data and open budgets, which is why attendance by senior buying staff rather than junior representatives has historically been the measure the organisers are judged on.
For Irish makers it also functions as an export gateway. A meaningful share of exhibitors use Showcase to meet buyers from the United Kingdom, continental Europe and North America who would not otherwise travel to meet individual studios, and the design and craft sector's export performance is closely tied to the relationships formed over these three days.
RDS Dublin continues to anchor the Irish trade exhibition calendar across sectors, hosting conferences and fairs in technology, infrastructure, education and the creative industries through the year.
