By Michelle Crean

What began as a hobby using fallen and storm damaged native trees during lockdown has turned into a successful business for one Glenflesk man.

Shane Dennehy is taking ‘working to live’ to a new level as his cottage business Anú Crafts takes shape throughout months of lockdowns, reopenings and COVID-19 restrictions.

Shane is constantly inspired by the wonderful nature that surrounds him and is giving the fallen trees a new lease of life. As a young boy, he spent a lot of his time with his late dad Seán in his beloved shed, watching him cutting timber and tackling the limitless list of chores and work of a full-time farmer and father. His mother Betty, also loved working with her hands, so it wasn’t long before their children developed this passion too.

Many years later, years spent crafting purely as a hobby, the birth of Shane’s beautiful goddaughter Michaela in 2013 led him to make a custom-made personalised doll's cradle for her playroom. When this was shared on social media by his sister Myra, numerous people fell in love with the cradles and contacted him to see if he could do the same for their little ones! Before he knew it, he was inundated with requests for other bespoke crafted pieces. Following this demand, he used the precious hoard of timber slices that his late younger brother Denis cut for him many years previously, and had seasoned in his shed waiting for this day to come. Little did he know then, but Denis was producing timber for Shane’s business years before he even knew it himself. During lockdown Shane has had time to develop this hobby into a business and created, Anú Crafts Killarney so the memory of his beloved father and brother can live on through the gorgeous wooden craft creations.

INSPIRATION

"My family are certainly my inspiration in setting up Anú Crafts - my late brother Denis, who cut timber slices for me 15 years ago before I ever even thought about starting a business, my late father for passing on his huge work ethic, my sister Myra for pushing me to set up Anú Crafts and the support of my loving mother and family," Shane this week told the Killarney Advertiser. "What I love most about my work is the delight I see in people's faces when they receive their personal woodcrafts. I love taking on custom-made personal commissions where people contact me looking for something very personal and touching to them or a loved one, but not really sure what to do. But after talking it through with them, I get a feeling of the person and their story. And the delight on their faces with the end product is worth more than anything afterwards."

For a full range of products please visit www.anucrafts.ie or contact Shane directly if you wish to create something unique.