Me at 20, wearing a coat that I made.

About Me

I made my first functional object when I was about 7. A moneybox. Wood nailed together to make a box with a lattice of string so you could slip the money in but not get it out. The culture at that time, in my family and in the wider population was of ‘make do and mend’. I used to think that that was a response to the post war shortages, but I think there was a necessity to do that even before the war.

There was also a very practical leaning in my family anyway, my father was an engineer and my mother was always making; our clothes, pottery, wood sculpture… So I grew up interested in how things worked, how they were made, and always wondering if I could make them. Unsurprisingly I found physics was the most sensible and logical subject at school, and to some extent maths, but history, chemistry and most of the other school subjects left me cold. However, I did go on to university, although I made what might have been a silly decision, and studied psychology.

I worked for many years, and pretty happily, as a psychologist in Sligo and Mayo before I gave up the sensible day job and established the Glasshouse. The sensible day job, became a glass artist and established The Glasshouse, stained glass studio.

It turned out to be the right time and a good decision for me. The Celtic Tiger was just waking up and people started commissioning stained glass windows and stained glass doors from the Glasshouse. In fact it was about 20 years until I could find time to play and make my own work. Right now my work situation is ideal. I have a couple of commissions on the boil and have time to play making fused glass bowls. Although I am looking forward to when it’s safe to breathe each other’s air and I can teach glass techniques again.