Things Are Going To Get Wired

David O’Reilly 28AUG21

major silver lining to all these lockdown restrictions has been the abundance of rebirths around here.

And the latest to find a new sensation is Tidy Towns stalwart and graphic artist David O’Reilly.

Whilst watching an American chancer online earlier this year taking a shot at making a wire sculpture, O’Reilly realised that, hey, anything this eejit is doing, I can do better.

And so it was that stainless steel wire was bought, pliers were polished, and over the coming weeks and months, young David was away with the enchanted fairies, his very first creation taking pride of place in the family garden. 

Almost immediately, the commissions started coming in. A wedding anniversary present here, a memoriam for a little girl lost there, a Happy Pear pride of place installation, a Mindfulwest Run mascot for new neighbour Bressie’s mental health charity, A Lust For Life.

“It was really just something to do with all this spare time,” says David today when we meet up outside Shoe Lane Coffee, his pert Pear creation just across the road. “And then one commission led to another, and then another. And I thought, yikes, I’d better get some kind of shape to all this.

“And that’s how Stainless Steel Sculptures was born. The website just went live this week, and it feels pretty amazing to think, oh, okay, this is what I do now…”

And the boy does it well.

Just how our man on wire got from laughing at a crappy YouTube video to a scrappy new trade, we decided to find out…

You can explore Stainless Steel Sculptures here, and go follow on Instagram here and YouTube here.