Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
Colin Judge
What We Do
Furniture designers Sam agus Nessa on sustainability, working together and creating 'tiny humans'
The couple work in as environmentally-conscious a way as possible.
CREATIVE COUPLE SAM Hutchings and Nessa Doran O’Reilly have become renowned for their beautiful handmade gifts and homewares as well as their furniture designs.
Furniture designers, makers, restorers and upholsterers, Sam and Nessa spoke to Ruth O’Connor about sourcing local timber, working in as circular a fashion as possible and their best products so far – their two children.
What inspired you to start your business?
We met in a workshop in the UK, after both of us had previously trained in furniture designing and making. We started our business because we love to work together and we decided to move home to be able to watch our small nieces and nephews grow up. Our first product range were gifts for family at Christmas and we realised how much we enjoyed the creative freedom gift and homeware design offers. Nine years later we still love what we do.
What do you do and how do you do it?
We are furniture designers, makers, restorers and upholsterers. We design and make furniture to commission and have a product range made from locally-sourced, sustainable Irish timber and reclaimed materials that we supply to retail across the country. Alongside our studio work, we run courses in upholstery and restoration and are involved in community projects.
We work together on every project and there is always a kettle on the boil as tea is a huge part of our process.
How has your business/ practice evolved over time?
When we started our intention was to work on large furniture pieces to commission and the small products were what we did for a Christmas cash injection. At a Christmas fair in Ballymaloe, we were asked if we would consider supplying a shop in Dalkey and all of a sudden a whole new business developed. Within a year we were stocked in over 50 shops across the country and overseas.
Although we have always considered ourselves an environmentally sustainable business that utilises locally sourced materials, over the last few years we have been implementing a more circular way of working. Using reclaimed and coppiced timbers as well as salvaged components and reused packaging materials.
What do you look to for inspiration?
Our work has always been inspired by our life and our relationships – our connections to people and places and to the things around us. We love traditions and folklore and are hugely inspired by the Irish vernacular.
Describe your workspace.
Our workshop is a converted outbuilding directly behind our house. We are blessed with an eight second commute but we’re still usually late. In summer, the view from the workshop is of wildflowers, untamed raspberry canes and a modest vegetable patch. In winter our cat is pressed up against the window asking to come in.
Inside the workshop we have creative chaos. Handtools are usually out of the tool box and the machines are always laden with prototypes and half-finished ideas, which inevitably make their way to the kitchen table.
Do you take your work home?
We are blessed to have two tiny humans so while one of us is in the workshop, the other is at the kitchen table where all of the design critique and development happens.
What did you do before this?
We have both worked in the industry since we left school. Sam completed an apprenticeship in joinery before he went on to study furniture conservation and restoration. While at college he started making furniture for the lecturers who had their own design businesses. He has been self-employed ever since.
Nessa studied furniture in DIT before heading over to the UK to complete two masters degrees in furniture design and conservation and restoration. Nessa had an award winning upcycling company and was an expert on Channel 4 Fill Your House for Free and the BBC’s Flipping Profit.
Describe a typical working day
At the minute a typical working day involves montessori drop offs, four-four feeds and plenty of tea. We are juggling a young family and work deadlines so there’s lots of switching between workshop, laptop and family time. It feels like we are ships passing in the night at the moment but we love it.
Is sustainability important to your business?
Sustainability is a cornerstone of our business, we do everything the most environmentally-conscious way possible to us, from using locally-sourced timber to re-using packing materials. We are coppicing a small amount of timber from our acre garden and to keep our carbon footprint as dainty as possible, we make as few trips in the van as possible and source all of our packaging from local suppliers. We also design out waste thus creating new products from off-cuts.
If you weren’t doing this what would you be doing?
Coincidentally, we both considered a career in thatching before we had even met and Sam considered a job in ecclesiastic building restoration but we are so happy to be working together at Sam agus Nessa
What has been your proudest moment or favourite project so far?
Winning the Kilkenny Open Call in 2018 was great and really kick-started our business but building our workshop during the Covid pandemic was a huge achievement for us and allowed us to keep working and be together as a family.
Dream collaboration?
Arguably the most important modernist designer Eileen Gray. A phenomenon who was prolific and worked into her nineties creating incredibly beautiful objects. It would be a dream to share a cup of tea with her. If you don’t know her work, we encourage you to find out about her.
Where can people find your products?
We are fortunate to be stocked in many beautiful craft and design shops across the country and most recently in a number of the Tesco extra stores. We also have a website www.samagusnessa.com and we are on Instagram @samagusnessa.
What’s next for you and your business?
This week we are presenting our newest work at Showcase in the RDS and later in the year we are really excited to introduce our first furniture range using reclaimed materials. This year will be spent enjoying the chaos of a young family and an untidy workshop.
have your say