*Maureen Harrsion celebrates at her shopfront with past and present staff members. Photograph by: Tom Micks.
Maureen Harrison built an Ennis institution three decades ago when she first opened her shop Seoidín in O’Connell Street.
For the past 30 years Seoidín has been making heads turn with their trendy yet timeless jewellery.
Seoidín are one of the most distinguishable jewellery brands in the country and have expanded their brand nationwide with Seoidín Eile and With Orla on Abbey Street in Ennis, along with shops in Limerick City and in Skerries, County Dublin.
From humble beginnings Seoidín initially opened as a small gift and pottery shop, “I couldn’t afford to specialise in jewellery straight away, even though that was my background, so I had to build things slowly,” Maureen tells The Clare Echo on Saturday, as celebrated the milestone with friends, family and staff.
Slowly but surely Seoidín expanded into jewellery and began to create the unique pieces that we know and love today.
Maureen revealed, “A lot of the time, if I brought in a particular jewellery brand, another shop would stock it too. That made me realise I needed to create something that nobody else could copy. That’s really how my own brand started. I began designing my own jewellery collection, and it was the making of Seoidín. If I hadn’t done that, I don’t think we would have survived”.
For Seoidín ensuring their jewellery is made at the highest quality possible is everything and something they aim to never cut corners on.
Maureen tells The Clare Echo, “Even though costs have gone up, especially the price of gold, I don’t want to lower the quality of what we make. I don’t want to produce cheaper pieces just to keep prices down. I want our jewellery to last twenty or forty years if people want it to. Quality is really important to me.”
Over COVID, a time of uncertainty for many businesses, Seoidin decided it was time for a rebrand. Maureen speaks fondly of her son, who decided to take on the task of giving Seoidin a new lease of life.
“I trusted him and let him take the lead. I didn’t know that side of marketing at all. Since then, we’ve been building Seoidín as a brand, and it’s been one of the best things we’ve ever done.”
Since rebranding Seoidín has grown and thrived as a brand exponentially even winning them awards along the way, such as Jewellery Shop of the Year 2025. This has allowed them to thrive in a climate that has been extremely difficult for businesses. Maureen claims her success is mostly owed to her rebrand.
“I think we’ve been very lucky, but I also think the rebranding made a huge difference.
We haven’t changed who we are, but we’ve become more contemporary and more visible. People see us now as a modern Irish jewellery brand rather than simply a nice jewellery shop.”
While Seoidin are always looking towards the future to see what they can do next, Maureen reflects fondly over the past 30 years, saying that she has “genuinely enjoyed it every day. I don’t really feel like I’m working because business comes very naturally to me. I love trying new things and I love taking on challenges.”
