Ambrose & Brid O’Halloran

Woodturner

©Ambrose & Brid O'Halloran

Harmony in design and making

Ambrose & Brid work with the natural beauty of the material
They are teachers and constant students
They have taught woodturning for over 20 years

Ambrose and Brid O’Halloran are partners in all things, having built both a life and career together. They each have a distinct style and approach which compliments the other. Their craft is the traditional art of woodturning and they have spent years honing their skills. The husband and wife duo have travelled widely and studied with master craftspeople across the world, including Tobias Kaye in the UK, Jean François and Monique Escoulen in France, and Al Stirt, Todd Hoyer, and Hayley Smith in the USA. As well as making their own exquisite works in wood, they are passionate about education and the future of craft skills. They are teachers who describe themselves as students; constantly striving to enrich their knowledge.

Interview

©Ambrose & Brid O'Halloran

©Ambrose & Brid O'Halloran

How does your partnership work in practice?: We have different roles depending on our skill set, whether it is sourcing materials, material preparation, accounting, organising shipping, or marketing. But the core of what we do is design and making, and these are truly collaborative and done together.
Why is education and teaching important to you?: If a craft stands still then it becomes lost to history. To keep a craft alive, it must always evolve while building on its traditional roots. Education is so much a part of constant development, and it’s a passing on of skills and enthusiasm from us to our students.
What is special about your chosen material?: As far as possible, we use native Irish woods. Wood is organic, it is a living material. It is warm and tactile. You are seeking to bring out the inherent beauty of the material. You must work with the natural properties of the wood and not fight against it.
What does “well made” mean to you?: Form is everything for us. You do not have to have knowledge of a craft to be able to judge if an object has pleasing flowing lines. Well made means you have a beautiful flowing piece where all the technicality of how it was made is hidden.

Ambrose & Brid O’Halloran are master artisans: they began their career in 2000 and they started teaching in 2000