About Cathy Prendergast


The incredible success story of Cathy Prendergast, Inti Leathers began while Cathy was working in London. She traveled to Madrid where she was introduced to a highly skilled craftsman from Peru who produced handmade leather goods which were appreciated for their high quality and excellent finish.

Cathy was inspired by this meeting to devote her time and effort to become one of Ireland’s leading handbag designers. Over the last three decades, she has become a master crafts person in London and Textile designs in Ireland, UK, Europe, Mexico, USA and Japan.

She is now internationally renowned as a leading designer and maker of fine, high quality leather goods.

Cathy has been designing and making leather goods for over 30 years. Before her return to Ireland 1989, she had her own retail store named “CATHIE-O” where she sold leather goods and made hand-tooled leather handbags, belts and small leather goods from her studio in London, using only the finest vegetable-tanned leathers sourced from UK and Europe.
"Over the years I have fine-tuned my skills, through experimentation and research and being driven to explore challenging design ideas. Everything my design studio made was by hand, including the stitching, meaning each piece was individually handmade to the highest standards of craftsmanship. We used leather thonging and brass fittings to complement our products. Our goods were sold to the large London stores and also throughout the UK."

Since setting up her design studio in the Irish town of Dundalk, Co. Louth, Cathy has dedicated herself to making fashion handbags and accessories. She received her training from an Italian leather designer, based in Florence, and also attended the renowned Central Saint Martin’s College in London, where she studied design. A good deal of time is spent traveling abroad, seeking new products and beautiful leathers, such as Ostrich, Crocodile and Lizard prints made from the finest calf skins. She also uses vegetable tanned leathers, pebbled and soft plain leathers, in a wide range of colours. Cathy's bags are leather lined, in soft pigskin leather, with metal hardware and the finest threads are used to finish these beautiful leather products. Cathy works only with the highest quality materials available, using her unique techniques and skills in a constant drive for perfection.