Richard and Catherine Daly

Living in Kells, Ireland's heritage capital located in the royal county of Meath, we are so lucky to be doing what we love daily.

When asked what do you do for a living? We say...

We bring smiles to faces; we make gifts that people are proud to present to those who are special to them, gifts that have a unique link to Ireland and solve that age-old problem; what do you give to the one who has everything? Well, they don't have a handmade writing instrument crafted from Irish wood that pays homage to Ireland's literary heritage and acknowledges the purity of our country's ecological landscape, a gift from the forests of Ireland.
A mouthful, but that's how we feel about the pens we craft.

Two thousand fourteen events gave us a fantastic opportunity to leave the corporate world and pursue our dream of working together to make our living as a team of 2 with the support of our children.

I am the 3rd generation in the Daly family, making my living from woodworking. My Grandfather and Father were master cabinetmakers, and my brother continues that tradition, so I guess wood and woodworking are in my blood!

As an award-winning hairdresser, Catherine has an artistic flair for style and colour, which she now brings to her art and the design of our pens and gift packaging.

We started our business turning wooden bowls and other wooden crafts; however, our pens gave us the most satisfaction; we love making them, and that love shows in the finished product, or so our clients tell us!

We spent the last eight years together refining our turning and finishing processes to produce the best writing pen we can make. We have styled our pen gift presentation to enhance the gifting experience for our clients and the gift recipient. Our pens make sustainable, engaging, thoughtful, and personal gifts, which is why our clients choose them.

After eight years of working together ( yes, we are still talking! ), we are still in love ( with each other! ), smiling, and enjoying every day.

A special thanks to our clients because they have made Irish Pens the success it is today through their support.

If you would like to char email Richard at richard@irishpens.ie

What goes into making one of our Irish Bog Oak pens

 

Where the crafting takes place

 

In the workshop!

Selecting the most exciting grain in the wood for our pens

We cut the wood into pen blanks on my Dad's bench saw; I used to clean the sawdust out of this machine every Saturday in my early teens and sell it to the local butcher for his floor; great days.

We store our wooden pen blanks in this old parts rack that came out of a local garage which closed over 20 years ago.

We drill the wooden blanks and glue in the brass tubes; it's vital that the tubes are centred and the correct size for the pen it is to create

And now for the fun part, it's time to sculpt the pen on the lathe.....

Not that way, Catherine! And it's safety glasses; you do not need sunglasses!! 

Let the professional at it!  :-)

We turn, sand and finish all our pens in the workshop; assembly and posting are done in the office.

Finished pen ready for its new home

Thanks for taking the time to review what we do; as we say

Loving what we do every day

 

Ireland has some beautiful forests to enjoy and inspire.

 

The workshop is in our garden, a great place to be creative.