Ciarán McGill

The Veneerist

Wood marquetry maker

©Declan Devlin photography

Expressing himself through marquetry

Ciaran fell in love with marquetry at college
He specialises in marquetry for luxury furniture
He won the 2017 RDS award for emerging furniture makers

Ciaran McGill was always fascinated by making. As a child, when helping his father on building sites, he started to create objects out of the offcuts he found on site. At school, he discovered woodworking, which led to a degree in furniture design and manufacture at GMIT Letterfrack in Ireland. One of his first projects there was to create a marquetry panel. “It was my first time working with veneer, and I was blown away by the possibilities of marquetry,” he says. He expanded his furniture making experience on a student work placement and then a master’s degree in London, but marquetry remained a passion throughout. So in 2015 he set up his own business back in Ireland, specialising in high quality marquetry.

Interview

©Declan Devlin photography

©Declan Devlin photography

How would you define your approach?: I’m quite a private person and like to keep my emotions and feelings to myself, so I use furniture as a means to express these emotions. I see furniture as art, and just like an artist uses art to express emotion, I use marquetry as my paint and furniture as my canvas.
How does digital technology impact your work?: Laser technology has changed marquetry from a hobby to a business. Without this technology it would have been a lost art, but it has started to come back into design. I see the laser as an extension of myself: it only cuts what, how and where you tell it. It gives an accuracy not achievable by hand.
But traditional hand skills remain crucial?: Once the delicate pieces are cut, it is back to traditional techniques to create the marquetry, piecing each part together by hand, sometimes working with minute pieces of veneer that are barely visible on the tip of the scalpel.
What do you love about what you do?: The ability to create something spectacular out of such simple materials. You start with bundles of veneer, sheets and a plank of wood. You end up with an item of functional beauty. By combining these materials with skill, design and passion you create a piece that can excite, intrigue and fascinate.

Ciarán McGill is an expert artisan: he began his career in 2008