Every design that lasts begins in a real place.
For The Cut Stool, that place is Atticall, a small community in the shadow of the Mourne Mountains. Here the local GAA club has long been the centre of shared life. It is where neighbours become teammates, where parents stand on the sideline in all weathers, and where the pitch remains the quiet heartbeat of the parish.
I grew to watching that rhythm. In the evenings I would see the next generation of players walking down the road, hurleys in hand, heading for the field. The sticks moved with them — light, curved, and full of purpose. After training or a match they would lean together against a wall or rest on the ground, three or four at a time, still carrying the energy of the game.
One evening the image stayed with me longer than usual. I began to wonder what those hurleys might become if they were allowed to stand in a different way — not as tools of sport, but as something that could support everyday life in a home.
That single thought was the beginning.
From Observation to Idea
The idea was simple: take the strength, the curve, and the character of the hurley and translate them into a piece of furniture that belonged indoors. Not a novelty. Not a replica. A functional object that still carried the memory of the pitch.
I started with sketches. Rough lines at first — three legs, a solid seat, the familiar sweep of the bas reshaped into supporting forms. The drawings sat on the table for weeks while I tested proportions, thought about balance, and considered how the piece would feel in a real room.
The three-legged form came naturally. It was practical, stable on uneven floors, and visually light. It also echoed the way the hurleys themselves had stood together after a match — separate yet supporting one another.
From Sketch to Craft
Once the design felt right, the work moved into wood. Solid ash was the only choice. It was the timber of the game, and it possessed the right combination of strength and resilience for furniture that needed to last.
Each leg was shaped by hand to capture the essential curve without becoming a literal copy of a hurley. The seat was kept clean and honest. The finish was kept simple — teak oil that would let the grain speak and would improve with age.
There was no factory process. Every stool was made individually, so that the natural variation in the timber remained visible. The goal was never perfection in the industrial sense. It was honesty: a piece that showed the hand of the maker and the character of the tree.
What the Words Mean
“Built From Tradition. Designed For Legends.”
These are not marketing phrases. They are a statement of origin and intention.
“Built From Tradition” acknowledges the long line of craft and culture that precedes the stool — the hurley makers, the players, the communities that have kept the game alive. The timber, the curve, and the three-legged stance all come from that inheritance.
“Designed For Legends” looks forward. It is a quiet belief that the people who will use these stools — children, parents, grandparents, friends gathering in a room — are the ones who give the piece its final meaning. The stool is ready. The stories still to be lived will complete it.
From the Pitch to the Home
Today The Cut Stool lives far from the field where the idea first formed. It sits beside armchairs, in children’s rooms, in hallways and kitchens. Yet it still carries the same essential qualities: strength without heaviness, simplicity without emptiness, and a clear connection to the place and the culture that shaped it.
That is the journey — from a quiet observation in Atticall to a piece of furniture that can take its place in any home that values craft, material, and meaning.
The pitch remains.
The timber remains.
The story continues in new rooms.
Discover the stools that began on that road in the Mournes.
Shop The Cut Stool → thecutstool.com