WATCH: Connection, uniqueness and sustainability are in everything Metal and Mallet do

Nenagh based craft-business Metal and Mallet held a showcase of their work last weekend at the Nenagh Tourist Office.

Donnacha Ryan and Nicky O’Dwyer were on hand to show off their beautiful work and explain their process.

The duo started Metal and Mallet last year, and have since then gained national recognition.

“We believe in Metal and Mallet. We are going to go big, and nobody is going to stop us,” said Donnacha.

METAL AND MALLET

Donnacha is the artist. He has been making pieces from wood and metal for 15 years, and now he has turned his passion into a business.

“It started out as a hobby and passing time, and then the house started to fill up, and I thought what can I do with all of these pieces, and Nicky came up with the idea of well maybe we should try to sell a few bits, and that was a big step,” said Donnacha.

The idea behind Metal and Mallet is 100% sustainable pieces of art with a function. Donnacha never cuts down a healthy tree.

Each piece is made from trees that have been storm damaged or fallen. The wood is traditionally seasoned for three years before the design process. Incorporated into pieces is salvaged metal and driftwood from Lough Derg.

“It’s a way of reusing and upcycling,” said Nicky. Nicky works on the promotion side of Metal and Mallet.

She said the top question she gets is, where does the name come from?

Metal is a reference to Donnacha’s love of metal, and the mallet is a nod to Nicky’s grandfather who was a carpenter.

When he passed away, Donnacha was given some of his tools, including his old mallet which he uses in his work. That mallet holds some pretty special childhood memories for Nicky and is an important part of their process.

“We felt it was not only a connection from the past but also who Donnacha is that he follows the traditional ways. So, hence Metal and Mallet,” said Nicky.

SUSTAINABILITY
For both Nicky and Donnacha, sustainability is a core part of what they do. Donnacha said people bring him things or charity and second-hand shop finds.

“What I’ve noticed is the amount of handmade objects thrown out because what people see is rust.

“In Nenagh you would have had blacksmiths several of them around the towns every village had one, and all had their own particular way of doing things,” said Donnacha Donnacha and Nicky also plant saplings which they grow for three years to ‘give back’ to the area their wood comes from.

UNIQUE
Nicky said the overwhelming feedback they get from customers is that they love the uniqueness of Donnacha’s pieces.

“Our ethos is 100% sustainability plus exquisite design, incorporating the two,” siad Nicky.
Donnacha told us he takes inspiration from nature, history and the objects he works with, and no two pieces are ever the same.

“Everything has a story to tell, and it’s not just a piece of art you put on the wall and admire while you dust it down on a

Saturday evening it has a function and nobody will have the same two things,” said Nicky.

“What we are trying to do is get people to see they should have one piece of art in their house nobody else has,” said Donnacha.

Nicky proudly told the Tipperary Star they are in the final of the Design Council of Irelands’ Irish Business Design Challenge in Dublin.

They said it has been a lot of work to get where they are but said they have had a huge amount of support locally in setting up their business.

From LEO, Tipperary County Council and the Nenagh Tourist Office, Nicky said they have been afforded many opportunities and are hopeful there will be more artists to come.

“It’s been an amount of work to get here, and all I’ll say is thank God I’m the creative one and Nicky is the business one. It works just fine,” said Nicky.

Metal and Mallet can be found on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok @metalandmallet.