William O'Leary
Date of Birth: 1st March 1959
1977 Left school in London and started work as a trainee banker mason for J.Bysouth, London.
1978 - 1981 Worked for W.A.Hoare, Memorial Masons in Bournemouth, Dorset as a letter cutter. Also went to South Dorset Technical College, Weymouth, to study Advanced Craft, City and Guilds in stonemasonry.
1981 - 1986 Worked for a couple of London based companies as a stone carver and mason. During this time he carved and gilded large Italian granite panels in Japanese characters for the Peace Pagoda in Battersea Park, London. He carried out lots of fine masonry and carving for many prestigious contracts including the Palace of Westminster, Hampton Court and Windsor Castle.
1986 - 1988 Commissioned by Nipponzan Myohoji to build a memorial Pagoda for their teacher Nichidatsu Fuji at Milton Keynes. Designed by the late Dr. Minoru Ohka, a combination of 8 - 12 c Korean and Japanese styles, 5 metres high in Portland and Ketton limestone's.
1988 - 1991 Self employed carver and letter cutter in London. Designed and cut lettering for various memorials and plaques for public buildings and churches in and around London, including St. Bartholomew's, Smithfield, St. Mary le Strand and the Holy Sepulchre, Old Baily. Restoration carving at the royal naval college, Greenwich.
1991 - 1993 Cliveden Conservation Workshop, Cliveden, Berkshire. Some projects worked on during this time included the rebuilding of 17c Rococo sandstone gate piers at Staunton Harold, Leics. Modelling and carving of 18c Pediment swags at Uppark, Sussex. Carving and fixing of Ionic capitals on Queen Caroline's Monument, Stowe gardens, Bucks, all these jobs were for the National Trust.
1993 - After getting married in 1992 to fellow stone carver Lottie, we set up business from our farmhouse in Wales. We make anything in stone, but specialise in memorials and carving work. Some major commissions have included a 4 ton lobster for a private garden in Shropshire, a half ton green Cumbrian slate plaque with cut and gilded lettering, for Prince Charles' architectural foundation in London.
Our approach to memorials has recently been influenced by peoples desire for more natural looking stones and these have been welcomed by the Church and cemetery authorities. We are both keen on the "alternative" movement which is all about reclaiming our lives and death's from a sometimes uncaring trade. Being part of the renaissance in lettering for public spaces, gardens and memorials is also exciting and positive.
I have exhibited at "the Art of Remembering" memorial exhibition at Blickling Hall and take a keen interest in all forms of lettering, attending workshops and seminars, keeping in touch with past and present "masters". I have recently become interested in "sacred geometry" and its relationship to Roman lettering, nature, art and architecture.