Waterford 1100 judges find their “Muse”

Muse was announced as the overall winner of the Waterford 1100 Window Display competition at a ceremony in the Medieval Museum, officiated by the Deputy Mayor of Waterford Metropolitan District, Cllr. John Carey.

With almost 40 registered entries from Waterford city, the competition, an initiative of Waterford City and County Council, supported by Waterford Chamber of Commerce and Waterford Business Group, encouraged businesses to create a window display to “celebrate Waterford.”

The judging panel of Billy Duggan, Chair of Waterford 1100 Committee, Peter Kelly, aka Franc and WLRfm’s Karen Tomkins, was highly impressed with the displays of the twelve finalists but agreed that Muse’s window display, located on the Quay “would not look out of place in a store in Paris, Milan or New York.”

Muse’s proprietor, Clodagh Roche, collected a cheque for €1,500, while runners up Fitzgerald’s Menswear, Cummins & Stone and Babycare received €1,000, €750 and €500 respectively.

Commenting at the awards ceremony, Deputy Mayor Carey said, “Each and every business that registered for the competition went to great efforts in creating visual window displays that not only reflected the Celebrate Waterford theme, but also caused passers-by to stop, have a glance, maybe take a second look and leave learning a little more about what makes Waterford great.”

He added “I hope that the creativity, vision, colour and stories displayed by Waterford businesses remain a permanent fixture in the shop windows of our city.”Announcing the overall winner, judges Franc and Karen said that the calibre of entries was extremely high, but the stand out features of the Muse window display were its creative use of space and the clever integration of the humble blaa with contemporary fashion to create a vista that could be interpreted as a ships sail or representative of the cable-span bridge, both strong Waterford themes.

According to Waterford 1100 Chair, Billy Duggan, there may be plans to repeat the competition next year.  “We were heartened by the great feedback we got from all the finalists.  The general feeling is that they would welcome this competition in the future as it really put the spotlight on their shop windows and their businesses.  In fact, it is undeniable that the window display competition created a buzz amongst retailers in Waterford city.”

For further information about events taking place in Waterford as part of Waterford 1100 celebrations check out the Facebook page or follow @Waterford1100 on Twitter.

Windows by Franc!

With almost 40 businesses in Waterford City registering for the Waterford 1100 Window Display competition, the judges described the shortlisting process as a “very tough decision, with Waterford retailers showing an extraordinary amount of creativity, insightfulness and pride in Waterford city.”

The Waterford 1100 Window Display competition, an initiative of Waterford City and County Council, supported by Waterford Chamber of Commerce and Waterford Business Group, encouraged local businesses to “celebrate Waterford” with prizes to the value of €3,750 to be awarded to the overall winners.

Billy Duggan, Chairman of the Waterford 1100 committee and member of the judging panel, was delighted, not only with the response from local businesses, but also with the calibre of entries to the competition. “The premise of the Window Display competition was to encourage local businesses to celebrate any aspect of Waterford that resonated with them.  Whether it was a Viking theme, a sporting theme, a food theme or based on a famous Waterford personality, these businesses took it to heart and made the process of compiling a shortlist a very difficult one for the judging panel.”

“As Ireland’s oldest city, celebrating 1100 years of history, these engaging and fun window displays added a little spark to the City and based on the positive feedback and comments we’ve had from the general public we hope to replicate it in the future.”

Joining Mr. Duggan on the adjudicating panel were Peter Kelly, aka “Franc”, the wedding planner synonymous with shows such as RTE’s Weddings by Franc and Franc’s DIY Brides and Karen Tomkins, WLRfm’s Big Breakfast Blaa presenter.

The judges were looking for creativity, presentation, relevance to the competition theme and a certain WOW factor. Participants were encouraged to integrate their own product into the display to make a strong impact.

Peter Kelly who is no stranger to ingenuity, imagination and exuberance said the competition standard was very high.  “The shortlist finalists were chosen because of their use of colour, their creativity, their ability to bring a story to life and the simple, but effective integration of their product into creating the display.”

Karen Tomkins added, “It really made me look at window displays in a different light.  It’s now easier to see how an effective well displayed window can draw in a customer.  The businesses that made the shortlist all demonstrated the importance of local heritage, space, and light along with the clever use of stock and props.  Creativity and imagination are very much alive and well in Waterford.”

The 12 businesses shortlisted are Fitzgerald’s Menswear, Gerry O’ Carroll Photography, Therapie Clinic, The Dresser, Babycare, Sam McCauley Chemist, The Little Design Shop, Keighery Antiques, Muse, Waterford Animal Welfare Shop, Waterford Hearing Services and Cummins & Stone.

The overall winners will be announced at a Mayoral reception in the Medieval Museum on October, 14^th when prizes of €1,500, €1,000, €750 and €500 respectively will be awarded.