Talented Longford designer wins prestigious award at Ireland's international creative expo

A talented Longford designer won a prestigious award at Ireland's premier annual trade event for Irish craft and design over the weekend.

Wendy Louise Designs won the Best Product Award in the Fashion category at Showcase 2026, the country's international creative expo at the RDS, Dublin on Sunday.

Fashion and accessories by Wendy Louise Knight of Wendy Louise Designs and Lisa McCormack of ‘Capulet & Montague’, who were exhibiting at Showcase, were worn by models Hannah and Patrick at the launch last week.

Wendy Louise Designs specialises in bespoke designs from large-brimmed showstoppers, to fascinators, cloches, pillboxes, trilbies and fedoras and they featured in Longford Life magazine in Christmas 2024.

Showcase, Ireland’s International Creative Expo is running from Sunday, January 18 to Tuesday, January 20 in the RDS, Dublin, bringing together hundreds of Ireland’s leading designers, makers and creative brands under one roof.

The 2026 event will welcome almost 400 exhibitors and 3,350 buyers under this year’s theme, ‘Making Irish Stories’.

Upwards of €32million is expected to be transacted over the three days and the total annual value of stock purchased by Showcase visitors across all buying channels is expected to exceed €124 million, underlining the scale of spending generated by buyers attending the fair.

Orders generated by buyers Showcase since 2015 have grown at an average rate of 18% year on year.

This event is exclusively for trade visitors and for further details on all the businesses that will be in attendance visit the official Showcase website at https://showcaseireland.com/

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