Paddy O'Malley, a Connemara artist, creates unique concrete pieces by incorporating found natural materials like sea glass, driftwood, and shells. He emphasizes the importance of respecting Mother Nature, who provides both inspiration and materials for his work.
Paddy O’Malley has made an art form out of studying the shoreline. Here, he shares the secrets behind his concrete-cast creations and how he gathers gifts from the sea to keep forever in your home.
“At first, I tried too hard to organise the raw beach materials in my concrete, but this humanises it. Now I never put my best feature in the centre,” he says. “I like my concrete to look like a part of the beach was picked up at low tide the way the waves arranged it and dropped in someone’s house.”
He spends his time making moulds, mixing various recipes of concrete, but mostly grinding and polishing down the concrete with a wet grinder polisher that is air powered and uses a continuous flow of water to keep the diamond pads cool. Paddy is part of a new generation of local makers and tastemakers, including interior designers Rosie Johnson and Sadhbh O’Gorman of Provenance Interior in Clifden, who spotted Paddy’s talents and sell most of his work. Thankful of the help from Rosie and Sadhbh, Paddy can “carefully design a piece of concrete that is both functional and beautiful, and more importantly looks like it belongs in the place it was designed for”, and his work can find its way more easily to people.
Home Decor CONCRETE ART NATURAL MATERIALS SEA GLASS DRIFTWOOD CONNECTMARA
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