‘The work completely changed my perspective on how I wanted to make a living’

In many ways, Ed Forristal’s work with wood started when he was asked to cut down trees and re-floor a chicken-coop back in 2010 – although the Bray native admits he did have a penchant for collecting wooden sticks when he was a small boy.

At the time, he was on a farm in rural Japan during a gap year from his philosophy and English degree in UCD.

“During that year travelling in Japan I worked on peanut and pumpkin farms. But it was when I was asked to cut down trees, that the Japanese government had planted in the 1980s, but had later decided it was cheaper to import wood from China, that my fascination with working with wood began.”

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The owner of the land asked Forristal to build a garage for his car, then storage for his firewood and also to re-floor his chicken coop.

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“The work completely changed my perspective on how I wanted to make a living,” he says.

While it might be a long way from the farmlands around Kyoto to the rural townland of Clogher, near Westport, Co Mayo, it is where Forristal is plying his craft these days, creating bespoke pieces of furniture and developing a tableware line from a barn he has converted into a workshop.

It is wood that has naturally fallen. It is much better quality because there is so much biodiversity in natural woodlands, as opposed to farmed forests

—  Ed Forristal, woodworker

Forristal, and his partner, Sarah, moved there in the winter of 2020, when they found a great 1950s bungalow with outhouses, and a couple of donkeys.

“The setting is so inspirational, and there is a great community of other artists who moved to the area during the pandemic,” he explains.

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Forristal is increasingly focusing on smaller woodwork pieces such as chopping and charcuterie boards, as well as bowls of varying sizes. His workshop is filled with modern electronic saws and planers, but they are also accompanied by traditional tools such as hand planes, chisels and spokeshaves, to ensure an under-stated, artistic flourish to his pieces.

“One of my commissions this year was from Bord Bia for 120 butter dishes to be used for one of its trade missions. That is really the general direction I want to go: expanding my tableware pieces. I’m working on charred ash valet bowls for them at the moment,” he says.

Importantly, the provenance of the wood is a priority for Forristal.

“The majority of the wood I use is from a sawmill in Kilkenny. We moved back there when I was young, as that is where my Dad was raised. It is wood that has naturally fallen. It is much better quality because there is so much biodiversity in natural woodlands, as opposed to farmed forests,” he explains.

“Wood is a natural, living material and I try to embrace this by incorporating live, waney [natural] edges into my pieces as often as possible,” he says. “Of course, living and working in such a beautiful landscape amongst a great community here in rural Mayo provides the perfect pace and inspiration.”