MEATH MADE 2025

Meath Made in 2025
What an amazing, productive year we’ve just had!
Our new members joined in the spring, and we had a product and portrait photoshoot in the Trim Castle hotel as well as a welcome meeting for our new makers with information talks from LEO and Discover Boyne Valley.

We had our second group stand at Bloom with 8 amazing makers selling their wares to a national audience. Our stand was professionally presented by Elina Branta with products beautifully displayed. Sales were fantastic and the whole experience was a confidence boost and education for our makers at the start of their business journey.

We applied for membership of GANS (Guilds, Associations, Networks and Societies) with the DCCI Design and Crafts Council of Ireland. We were accepted and this has been instrumental in bringing our collective to a national audience throughout August.

August was a whirlwind month with our invitation to launch the national August Craft month programme of events with the DCCI in the Swift Cultural Centre Trim. We were featured in professional photos used nationally on their social media. This in turn led to our participation in a slot on Ireland Am. This was an exciting event which featured four of our makers demonstrating their skills and Loreto showing Deric how to throw a pot “Ghost style!!

We finished off the month with our own second August Creates two-day festival in the Swift. Twenty-five members were involved in a craft fair, art exhibition, a dozen workshops in various crafts as well as demonstrations, live music and a talk by Vaida about her international kids fashion brand Upa. Ballivor Gospel choir sang for us as well as beautiful live harp music played by Jennifer Leahy.

We had our second Visual merchandising course after the amazing popularity of our first one in 2024. Members learned from a professional how to improve their displays as well as rethinking some of their products. Evidence of this professionalism in display could be seen at members stands throughout the year such as Puca, Bloom, Gifted, Artsource and Samhain etc

Members have also benefited from the power of working together as a group for example when submitting ideas for Eco Chic with Meath County Council. Five of our members were employed to teach skills in textile upcycling throughout the county. Also, in the libraries and healthy Ireland projects members have given workshops in various crafts.Our Christmas photoshoot was professionally directed and shot in a local venue creating beautiful images to attract the discerning buyer. The photos convey the beauty of our products in elegant, sophisticated images which were picked up by two national magazines: Irish Country Living and Irish Home Interiors and Living. They also featured in Meath Life and the Meath Chronicle. We then used them in our own Christmas marketing campaign which elevated the look of the Meath made brand as a whole..

We finished off the year with our first Christmas Creates festival in the Swift. This was a wonderful event filled with festive atmosphere. A big thank you goes to Ballivor Gospel Choir who joined us once again bringing joy and Christmas cheer to our opening night. Our fair was a beautifully curated sustainable event. We hope Creates at Christmas will become an annual fair to rival even Gifted where people are guaranteed locally produced gifts of a high
standard.

As we reach the end of 2025 I want to say a big thank you to Meath County Council and Meath LEO for their support throughout the year in particular to Joe English who has just retired and was instrumental in our formation in 2022. We wish him the best in his retirement and say thanks for his vision and for trusting in our group of creatives! Thanks also to Caoimhe Delany who is always there with advice and support since the very beginning. Thanks to all our members for taking part in our events this year. Your talent, passion and drive to succeed in your individual crafts and businesses is what makes Meath Made special. Thanks also to our amazing hard working committee who manage to run their own businesses will volunteering their free time to work for us all. When we work together, we really can achieve great things. We currently have an open call for new members so if you think you have what it takes to become a member, please do get your application in!

After the amazing year we’ve just had I look forward with excitement to 2026. We have lots of exciting plans for the year ahead. Apart from our annual events Bloom, August Creates and Creates at Christmas we have a few exciting plans which we hope to work on next year so watch this space!!

Wishing everyone a Happy Christmas and all the best in 2026!
Anita Reynolds
Chairperson MeathMade

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