The Best of Irish Produce @ The Dublin Christmas Flea Market

Jingle those bells!  This one is our showcase for all of Ireland's greatest makers, food producers, craftsmen and women.

Choosing who to chat to at the Dublin Christmas Flea was like picking a favourite child..but we didn't have time to talk to every single one of the more than 200 amazing small Irish businesses present to show their wares, and demonstrate the passion, creativity and sheer brilliance of grass roots businesses in Ireland. 

 

We spoke to Pin of Village Markets, who facilitates women within a specific tribe in Kenya who are specialist basket weavers in their community, using unique dyes and techniques to produce stunning, individual pieces, that Pin buys from them and ships around the world, helping to preserve this long held skill, and enhance the sense of value within the community so that they can retain resilience in a global economy. 

 

Then we had a chat with Jasper of White Mausu, one of the most exciting food brands to emerge from Ireland in the past few years.  Their Peanut Rayu is quite literally the ultimate food addiction, and we're both quite serious addicts at this stage - listen to us as we wax lyrical about its mulitiplicity of uses, and then we get a quick insight to what Rayu actually means and the synthesis of the ideas that brought about what is quite quickly becoming a food revolution.

 

Next up we spoke to the guys from Ballyshane, who produce a beautiful range of wooden chopping boards and bowls from sustainably sourced beech trees, that are either dead or dying, and with the care and art that comes with a true passion for their craft, and a desire to highlight the individuality of each piece.  Having picked up his father's passion for lathe work after he had passed away, Will has gone on to become a master craftsman in his own right, and has a real understanding of what it is to preserve woodcraft in this way.

 

Last on our list was a new clothing company called Grown - whilst we didn't get to have an actual chat with lovely founders, we did have a great time talking about their gorgeous range of organic cotton clothing, with its aquatic prints and delicate colour ways.  We also had a general chat about our own thoughts around ethical fashion, and why we treat it as a fundamental focus in our own lives.