Aileen Lee talks with woodturner William McHutcheon.

IT IS movie award season and Irish designers and their luxury creations were the stars of the silver screen this week.

"Spending time outside plants the seed of many new ideas."

Carol O’Callaghan previews some up-coming craft fairs to keep us shopping for the next few weeks.

Carol O’Callaghan checks out a long-running exhibition where Irish design is attracting growing numbers of buyers from overseas and from the home market, too.

Careen and Declan Wolfe of the Wolfe Stage School, Douglas, present the Circus Showcase at the Tramore Valley Park, Kinsale Road, Cork. 

Annmarie O’Connor highlights the new year’s not to be missed fashion events.

If your family’s New Year healthy resolutions are already floundering, a new range of kids vitamins from Higher Nature might have a solution.

Cork-based luxury soap producer Hajni Kele of Mianra Artisan Soaps aims to capitalise on recent demand for her products and is keeping her eyes open for potential export opportunities in the long term, writes Trish Dromey.

Collaborating to achieve economies of scale and to target international markets, a group of craft makers have created the brand Handmade in Cork.

Mothers are buying local Irish products in order to support the economy and secure jobs, according to new research.

IF our future depends on exports, then designers are trying to get in on the act.

ORDERS of more than €20 million are expected to be placed during Showcase 2012, a trade event featuring 350 of the country’s leading designers, manufacturers and craftspeople.

SUPERMODEL Yasmin Le Bon turned heads yesterday at a major international exhibition of Irish design.

Supermodel Yasmin Le Bon will turn heads today at a major international exhibition of Irish design.

More than 1,000 international businesses are expected to spend over €35m snapping up the latest Irish crafts at a major trade show in Dublin.

Grand Prix champion John Higgins has had a week to savour in Preston after a memorable victory over Ronnie O’Sullivan in this year’s Showcase final.

WE’VE come a long way from the singing leprechauns and Celtic kitsch that used to choke up tourist shops.

IRISH artists and designers are facing the challenge of finding ever craftier ways of attracting new customers as sales of their work take a hit on the international market.