Maker - patrick@silver-and-wood.co.uk

This is the story of a love affair with two enduringly beautiful materials - silver and wood. The maker of the objects pictured in this site was christened Patrick after Patrick O'Neill, an Irish flyer who was killed in WW2. In his early twenties he discovered that he was good with his hands - something inherited from his father (who had many practical skills and became a painter in later life). Lacking the cash to furnish his first house, he made a bed, tables and benches, and in the early seventies acquired a workshop and a few tools and set about teaching himself to make things out of wood. Attending a harpsichord recital, he fell in love with the sounds it produced, and wanted to learn to play Les Barricades Mysterieuses; but the only way to acquire such an instrument was to build one himself, and this experience taught him more about woodworking. Later, he used the workshop to restore antiques, learning about many of the techniques and materials involved from Charles Hayward's wonderful Woodworker's Pocket Book, but continuing to make furniture. In the mid 80's he bought a lathe (thank you for pointing me in the right direction, Reverend John) and started turning, and later that decade began to experiment with silver. Since then his appreciation and understanding of the qualities of the two materials has grown, and projects have covered more ground. He met Reverend John again this year (2024), well into his nineties and still turning!
patrick@silver-and-wood.co.uk