Moreton’s Dan Hoolahan doesn’t just make finely pared-back tables and shelves from oak, ash and walnut. He makes up words too.
“It means the science of utility, but I made it up,” Dan admits when asked the obvious: Utology, is that a real word?
So, there you have it. The man’s obsessions neatly summed up in a word made right here. Interrogating how to make the stuff that surrounds us just a little bit better. More beautiful. More useful.
Take a look at Dan’s elegant portfolio – a little Scandi, a little Japandi, and a lot of Left Banky too.
“I studied 3D design at university, but couldn’t get a decent job. Companies creating that kind of work can do it with a really small team. Openings are few and far between,” Dan says.
He decided to do something creative at home instead – well, back then, his mum’s Irby home.
“I had no real woodworking skills, but I got a few tools, bought what I could afford, and made what I wanted to make,” he admits.
Now Dan’s making furnishings for the national hotel chain, Staycity, and has a growing and happy client list: “Starting small just gives you the confidence to keep pushing, keep growing, without any big expectations,” he says.
“The plan was to stay creative until something proper came along,” Dan admits, of his early forays into stationery holders and coat hooks.
Now he’s expanded from his mum’s garage (“I still use it though, it’s lovely to step out of it and take a walk in Royden Park,” he says) into a shared workshop space in Liverpool.
“I love working with wood,” he says. “At first it was just a go-to material, a means to an end. Now I really appreciate the beauty of every different type of wood I use.
“I design primarily with the end function in mind,” Dan says of his signature, sleek aesthetic, “but I like thinking of new ways to make an object more practical, such as my bookshelf with adjustable ends that slide along, or my magnetic rail note holder.
“Working in a big workshop gives me access to all the tools I need,” says Dan, “but it’s nice to come home, and find the space I need to be inspired for what happens next.”
