A RTIST C URRICULUM V ITAE : C HARLIE M ALLON
Charlie Mallon trained to be a blacksmith at Hereford College in the early nineties
and served an apprenticeship before setting up Irony Metalworks 10 years ago.
From the workshop in rural Tyrone, Charlie and his small team work in forged and
cast metal from small intricate craft pieces to large scale structural work.
Charlie is a Member of the Guild of Master Craftsmen and was the recipient of a
Creative Industries Innovation Fund Award from the Northern Ireland Arts Council in
2010. Charlie has been a finalist in the RDS National Craft competition twice.
Charlie has worked on two of Diarmuid Gavin’s award winning gardens at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show as well as projects for
Temple Street Children’s Hospital, Cork Maternity Hospital and Charleville’s Dirty Old Town transformation.
Charlie is on the Construction Skills Register and has experience of large scale installations in public spaces including working with
Engineers on design of foundations, the preparation of Method Statements and Risk Assessments and working with crane
operators on Lifting Plans. He worked with a team of volunteers on installing an entire garden in Central Dublin for Temple Street
Children’s Hospital, this was installed in 1 day. He also designed, manufactured and installed sculptures for Chelsea Flower Show
which were entirely constructed off site and then delivered and installed, including foundations within 1 day, meeting all of the
Royal Horticultural Society’s rigorous Health and Safety requirements. Charlie also designed and installed 6m tall sculptures for a
Public Park in Carndonagh, working with an Engineer to design and build the foundations and a local crane company to lift the
sculptures into place.
Charlie and his team have worked with children to design installations in Temple Street Children’s Hospital, Knockloughrim
Primary School and the Mount Vernon Grow How Project. This involved designing and running games in which children made all
the choices about what they wanted in the final design, the children also got involved in drawing elements which were then
translated into metal for the final piece. A video record allowed the children to see the process that took their drawing from the
page to the final sculpture.
Charlie and his team all carry Police Disclosure Certificates and CSR cards for on site work. Irony sculptures are built for long term,
low maintenance installations in outdoor conditions.
Some recent relevant projects undertaken by Irony Metalworks are shown below:

Bronze sculptures ‘Fiacc the Raven’, ‘The Salmon of Knowledge’, ‘The Boar of Benn Gulbainn’ – finalists in the RDS National Craft
Competition 2014

Sculpture for the BBC, now a permanent feature in the Blue Peter garden - 2014

Sculptures for the Garden of Hope, Dublin - 2013

Sculptures for Public Park, Barrack Hill, Carndonagh commissioned by Donegal County Council – 2012

Sculptures for the Cavan Crystal Hotel, Cavan - 2012

Cast Iron replicas of seats from the Titanic for the Titanic exhibition, Belfast – 2012

Railings and restoration of gates for historic Kilnacourt House, Portarlington – 2011

Sculptures for Bloom Garden Festival, Phoenix Park - 2011

Design workshop with Knockloughrim Primary School, production and installation of ‘Our Wee Garden’ gate– 2011

Design workshop with youth group and ‘Grow How’ gate for Mount Vernon Community Garden – 2011

‘Sperrin’ gate in steel and stained glass, private client - 2011

Installation of raised footpath in ‘The Sky Garden’ for RHS Chelsea Flower Show – 2011

‘Druid’ Sculptures for award winning garden at Mallow Home and Garden Show, now sold to private client – 2011

Giant metal daisies for Cork Maternity Hospital garden designed by Diarmuid Gavin – 2010

Temple Street Children’s Hospital ‘Under the Daisies’ Garden for Diarmuid Gavin as featured on RTE – 2010

Interior and exterior Gaudi style steelwork for ‘The Round House’, Maghera as featured on Northern Ireland House of the Year –
2009

Family sculpture – finalist in RDS National Craft Competition, 2009