‘Play is a language in itself’ say Leitrim woodland crafters
Leitrim couple Niall Miller and Brenda McLoughlin are keeping traditional woodland crafts alive through handcrafted games, basket making and education.
Niall Miller and Brenda McLoughlin have created something special with their business, Fuinseog Woodland Crafts. Based in a cottage in rural Leitrim, the pair specialise in coppicing, woodworking and basket making, creating a wide variety of items entirely from native Irish trees and shrubs.
Niall is originally from Cork city and Brenda from Mohill. The couple got together in 1992 and bought a small place in Gortnagullion.
Niall began working with wood first while planting trees as part of a woodland cooperative. Brenda later took up basket-making courses and, after they began growing willow at their cottage and cutting willow from hedgerows, she developed her own craft.
Fast forward three decades and Niall and Brenda are best known for creating the Bemusement Games. What began as wooden games made for their own children has grown into workshops and installations where adults and children alike can play and interact with the creations. They first started showcasing their work at vintage days, demonstrating both the games and their craft.
“People queued on the street to play chess all day at Roscommon Lamb Festival one year,” said Niall.
“We now have nearly three dozen different games,” explained Brenda, including chess, draughts, snakes and ladders, marble runs and mazes made entirely from wood.
The games come without instructions, encouraging participants to be curious and creative in how they use them.
“We put general directions on the games but some of them look more like pieces of wood or art than actual games so they take a bit of figuring out. That’s what we’re trying to do, get people to investigate and be curious,” said Brenda.
Brenda has a background in physiotherapy and sees a clear connection between the games and maintaining motor skills.
“We start to lose flexibility from the age of eight,” she said. “Skill loss is becoming more apparent as we go through life. Making the games is a bit of a reaction to that, to get people to use their bodies and their heads.”
In a world of mass production and fast-paced manufacturing, their traditional approach to woodworking stands apart.
“We’re trying to get across to people that proper maintenance and looking after strong, natural materials will last,” said Niall.
He explained that the biggest tool they use in their craft is imagination, observing how people interact with the games and building new ideas from those experiences.
“Quite often we see a child or parent interacting with a game and it leads directly to the idea of another game,” he said.
Brenda noted the universal nature of play, saying that with Ireland’s increasingly diverse population, everyone can take part.
“Play is a language in itself and anyone can understand our games just by demonstrating.”
The couple use native trees and shrubs including oak, hazel, ash, yew, elm and fruitwoods. Elm is used for the tabletops of most of the games because, as Niall explained, it is one of the strongest woods. Production is slow, with everything created by hand. His tools fit into one bag and include a rounding plane, an auger, electric drill and sander, drawknife and hand planes.
In a shifting world of Artificial Intelligence and machine-made products, the work Brenda and Niall do cannot be replicated in the same way. “My work is slow because I’m carving slowly. It’s all by hand,” said Niall.
Brenda added, “Basketry is one of our most ancient skills as humans. There are no machines that can make a basket. To form and shape a basket needs hands.”
Because their games are made entirely from natural resources, they hope to inspire people to think about their relationship with nature and the environment.
“Our natural environment needs protecting and looking after and year after year it’s getting more and more destroyed,” said Niall. “It’s because people don’t have a good relationship with the outside,” he added, saying people need to learn more about what is around them.
Living in Leitrim has also shaped the way they work, with the quietness of the countryside fuelling their imagination and creativity. “We bought a very small place and it has left us free to do all of this,” said Brenda.
“We live in a quiet area and we need that,” added Niall. “No external influences help your mind recalibrate and come up with ideas.”
Brenda believes Leitrim has retained a sense of community that is becoming harder to find elsewhere.
“There’s a great sense of community in Leitrim. There’s still kindness in this very fast moving world.”
Brenda has been taken on to the Heritage in Schools programme, where she educates children about the importance of wood, tree planting and what can be created from natural materials. With such an ancient craft no longer widely taken up by young people, they hope that through play and education the skills can continue and that people will develop a greater respect and appreciation for native woods.
“I do native tree workshops like tree planting and looking after willow houses in school gardens, and I bring a couple of the games,” explained Brenda. “We learn, talk about trees, plant trees and play games,” she added, saying she tries to make it as interactive as possible for the children. “It’s like learning anything, you learn five ways with all your senses. With any form of learning it’s easier to do it a few different ways.”
“All woods have a property you can enjoy or use,” said Niall. “We’re trying to get people get people to investigate and be curious, to make something at home.”
“We will always have plastic,” said Brenda, “but you can make your own chair, your own gate, your own basket for your shopping.”
The couple worry about the future of traditional crafts, with the pathways into the sector remaining so niche. Many people practising traditional crafts have taught themselves over time.
“We’re out places doing demonstrations or with the games, and we see there are very few people out demonstrating crafts,” said Brenda, adding that many young people love to watch.
“Making a living from it is very difficult,” added Niall. “It takes a lot of time to learn all the different skills. For someone coming out of school, there’s no real pathway for crafts unless you go to pottery or basket making.
“Crafts is funny because it’s not art, and it’s not overly commercial. You’re stuck somewhere in the middle where you have to be a microproducer,” he added.
Niall and Brenda have been involved in craft making for 30 years and have no plans to stop. They continue to attend fairs and workshops around the country, keeping heritage alive through play and education while encouraging people to develop a relationship with, and respect for, the natural world.
The pair remain in high demand, regularly travelling to schools and community events. “We’re being asked to schools for no phone days, alternative sports fields, bring your grandparents to school days,” said Brenda.
“After using our games, we really just hope that the fun stays with them,” said Niall.