2026 Future Makers Winners
Design & Crafts Council Ireland (DCCI) is delighted to announce the winners for Future Makers 2026.
Future Makers is a DCCI programme dedicated to supporting the next generation of designers and makers as they develop their creative practice and careers. Through a competitive application and selection process, emerging talent from across Ireland is recognised for the quality, originality and potential of their work, with finalists progressing through the programme for the opportunity to receive awards and supports that can help advance their professional development. Established in 2009, Future Makers is one of the largest prize-funded award programmes in Europe, providing a platform to showcase talent alongside much-needed financial support.
Recognising the talented next generation of designers and makers, the Future Makers initiative named Donegal jewellery maker and goldsmith Catreeney Harkin as the 2026 Overall Emerging Maker, and Wicklow textile maker Ailbhe Beatty as the Sustainable Design Award winner. Reflecting this investment, the 2026 programme features increased prize funding of €63,000 across the Future Makers Awards categories, strengthening sector impact and opportunity. Each winner also receives a mentoring package valued at €1,000 in addition to their award.
Catreeney Harkin – Overall Emerging Maker Winner
Catreeney Harkin is a goldsmith with an MA in Jewellery & Metal from the Royal College of Art, where she held the Burberry Design Scholarship. Her MA work culminated in a collection of glass, metal, ceramic and textile exploring natural healing for women through folklore. Since graduating, she founded CROÍ MEALA, a jewellery and object brand rooted in traditional craftsmanship and recycled metals, inspired by Irish mythology, seasons and ritual.
Recently, she hand-struck a coin series for Culture Vannin’s Year of the Manx Language using Viking methods. Working the earth, historic techniques and material curiosity have always shaped CROÍ MEALA’s process – carving beeswax, casting into sand and bone. She wants to extend her material language into stone, drawn to its long history as a vessel for myth and memory in Ireland.
Ailbhe Beatty – Sustainable Design Award Winner
seolstudios is an Irish handweaving practice founded by Ailbhe Beatty in Bray, Co. Wicklow, specialising in bespoke handwoven textiles produced on a traditional Donegal four-shaft floor loom. Underpinned by a decade of experience in architecture, the practice was born from an ethical response to material waste in both the construction and fashion industries, and a deep desire to reconnect with making by hand.
Rooted in the Donegal weaving tradition and trained under Master Weaver John Heena in Kilcar, seolstudios is committed to the preservation of indigenous Irish craft, the Irish language associated with it, and the use of locally sourced materials. Current work spans bespoke commission-based fabric for tailoring, handwoven homeware textiles, and recent Arts Council-supported research.
Meet the 2026 Future Makers Emerging Makers Winners
The DCCI’s Future Makers prove that when artists are given time, space and support, creativity thrives. Ireland’s commitment to culture is uniquely inspiring, valuing artists and creative ambition in ways few countries do. The future is in safe hands and it’s proudly, unmistakably Irish.
Leah Capaldi
Future Makers 2026 Judge
Recognising the creativity and potential of the next generation of designers and makers, the Future Makers initiative named Roberts Zujans as the 2026 Overall Student and Recent Graduate Winner, and Camille O’Connell as the Sustainable Design Award winner. Their work reflects the innovation, skill and ambition shaping the future of Irish craft and design.
Roberts Zujans – Overall Student and Recent Graduate Winner
Roberts Zujans is a sustainable designer whose practice is rooted in resourcefulness, identity, and self-expression. Excluded from traditional ideas of wealth and luxury fashion, he developed a personal approach to making garments using deconstructed clothing, deadstock fabrics, and materials sourced from scrap stores.
Influenced by his Eastern European upbringing where due to economic hardship people invent new ways to reuse material, his work explores masculinity, emotion, and resilience. Through Baltica, he draws inspiration from musicians and communities in Ireland’s industrial cities, reflecting the tension of economic inequality. Many of his friends in Limerick are musicians, and their love of self expression and how they translate our difficult times into art is very inspiring to him.
Camille O’Connell – Sustainable Design Award Winner
‘Lir’ is a reimagining of the Irish folklore tale ‘Oidheadh Chloinne Lir,’ an exploration of ancient mythology in contemporary times. The collection consists of both woven and knit womenswear high fashion fabrics. Through the gloomy notes of the tale, the story ultimately represents the beauty of resilience. The image of the delicate swans enduring stormy mountainous landscapes is deeply moving.
This tension between fragility and strength is an integral theme explored through the collection. Light, cloudy textiles are created using silk and steel yarns, weaving double cloth fabrics imitating the texture and delicacy of feathers. The relationship between these two foundational materials; silk and steel, symbolises the coexistence of vulnerability and resilience, the strength beneath beauty.
Meet the 2026 Future Makers Students and Recent Graduates Winners
It was a privilege to discover such ambitious and generous emerging talent. Future Makers celebrates not only making, but also curiosity, experimentation and the courage to imagine differently!
Brankica Zilovic
Future Makers 2026 Judge
Congratulations to all our Future Makers 2026 winners. Their exceptional talent, creativity and innovation reflect the strength of Ireland’s next generation of makers and the exciting future of craft and design. We look forward to seeing how their practices continue to develop.