AMERICAN BUYERS VISIT MONAGHAN

A Castleblayney textile designer has attracted some of the most senior craft buyers in the United States to come to Monaghan. Liz Christy of Swallow Studios has been lobbying for the North American Celtic Buyers Association to visit the county and she was delighted when they confirmed their visit for Thursday October 25th. “Over the past two years I have invested a lot of effort and money into exhibiting at tradeshows in America. This has helped build up my name and reputation with the buyers as someone who is serious about being in business and sustaining jobs in the county. This trip is organised annually and I have been working on attracting this tour to Co Monaghan for a number of years and I am delighted that my efforts are bearing fruit,” said Liz Christy.
The trip was organised by Maeve O Malley, Senior Marketing Executive in the Enterprise Ireland office in New York. Maeve works closely with Anne Tarrant of the North American Celtic Buyers Association, NACBA to promote the work of Irish producers to this segment of the American market.
The trip is described as an ‘educational vendor tour' and the object of it is that the artisans can educate the shop owners and buyers on the manufacture and marketing of their goods. “We can impart information on the stories and traditions behind the company so that they can in turn relate it to their customers and say they have visited the workshop and it is authentic, genuinely made in Ireland,” Liz added. There will be 32 visitors from some of the best Celtic stores throughout the USA, including buyers from Dollywood in Tennessee, where Liz spent three weeks in April of this year, demonstrating at the Festival of Nations.
Every piece of work that Liz completes is totally unique and she is passionate about maintaining the labour intensive process of weaving by hand. Each piece is hand knotted when weaving is complete and then it is hand washed to bring out the luxurious softness of the fibre.
“Ours is an age-old craft with no electric switches, our flying shuttle looms are operated by ‘human’ power alone. Thread passes through our hands many times in the making of our textiles. We design and prepare the warp, comb it onto the loom, fill bobbins, weave, and tassel and wash…all by hand,” Liz adds.
Liz is also a member of ‘Craftmark’ and the Louth-based CEO Club, an artists’ collective that exhibit their work throughout Ireland.For more information, visit www.lizchristy.com