Meet the Galway craftsman capturing seaside finds in cast concrete

Like most people who work with their hands and have a true connection with what they are making, Paddy O’Malley has the utmost respect for his chief investor: Mother Nature. She is both his muse and, in many cases, his material.

His favourite part of his process is searching the beaches for found marine materials such as sea glass, driftwood, shells, pebbles, fish skeletons, seaweed, fossils and sand to incorporate into his work but also studying the way nature presents these treasures.

“At first, I tried too hard to organise the raw beach materials in my concrete, but this humanises it. Now I never put my best feature in the centre,” he says. “I like my concrete to look like a part of the beach was picked up at low tide the way the waves arranged it and dropped in someone’s house.”

Each piece is unique, from monumental slabs to tiles that fit in your hand, all featuring Paddy’s signature imprint of the little details that are most captivating about Connemara, in a striking terrazzo effect.

His first foray into the world of concrete casting came while he was living in the US. “I made my first concrete countertop for my little house there. It turned out pretty good, so a lot of my friends at the time wanted one too. Soon strangers were calling, so I’ve kept it up ever since.”

He spends his time making moulds, mixing various recipes of concrete, but mostly grinding and polishing down the concrete with a wet grinder polisher that is air powered and uses a continuous flow of water to keep the diamond pads cool.

“My favourite piece I’ve ever made sits in Provenance Interior,” he says. “It’s a small piece of seashell and sea gravel mixed with a fuchsia wreath embedded, sticking out wherever it wants.”

If you are hoping to enquire at Provenance about his work, Paddy’s advice is to think long and hard about where in your home it would work. His experience has taught him that placement is everything. “When making a table, countertop or tile, you need to pay a lot of attention to where it is going. If you get it wrong, you might as well scrap it and start again.” His advice is to consider the other materials and colours that will surround it. Concrete’s cold, harsh and brutalist connotations can often be a misconception – Paddy maintains that it is, more often than not, “soft, warm and elegant” in interiors.

Interestingly, he adds, even with nearly 30 years working with this material, it is still hard to predict. It is slow and considered but with a hint of surprise.

“Concrete isn’t an exact science; it will never come out exactly as you imagine. There are a lot of happy accidents. Before polishing, it’s like a piece of rough pavement. After many wet and dirty hours of polishing, a piece of art emerges. Mother Nature has already done the real work at that point, the pain in my back goes away and I stand there smiling at the piece.”

Enquire about Paddy O’Malley’s work at Provenance Interior, Clifden.

Photography: Cliodhna Prendergast

This feature originally appeared in the autumn/winter 2023 issue of IMAGE Interiors. Have you thought about becoming a subscriber? Find out more, and sign up here.