'I grew up in Booterstown, Dublin, and was on the beach constantly as a kid. Both my parents were the same when they were young. My mother's side lived in Glasthule and my father's side was from York Road in Dun Laoghaire so the beach has always been part of who I am.

I started collecting driftwood as a young boy and I still do. It intrigues me. It's mad to think a piece of wood could have been floating in the ocean for 20 or 30 years, or it could just be from down the road. That's the beauty of it – you just don't know. If somebody finds a bottle with a note in it, they're intrigued to find out where it's come from and I'm the same with driftwood.

I started making things out of driftwood as a hobby when I was 13 and I've been doing a lot more of it lately – mostly lamps and candleholders at the moment. I'm hoping to eventually set up a stall in Blackrock. That's why I put the ad on gumtree.ie. I wanted to check if people had different things they'd like to get rid of, like bells and compasses, anything nautical – even a bit brass that could sit on the lamps.

Most people would step over a piece of driftwood and not pay it any heed, but when I see a piece of wood, I see something in it. My imagination goes into overdrive and I know what I'm going to make out of it almost instantly. I have it in my head. Sometimes if the driftwood is really special I won't make anything at all. I just mount it on something and treat it with linseed oil. That's what I did with one particular bit of wood recently that had a lot of character. It definitely came from a ship because it had the rope marks going through it. I find it fascinating to spend time thinking where it might have been and what ship it came from.

When I'm working on pieces of driftwood I can actually feel the energy of the sea coming off them. I could spend hours and hours on them. It's incredibly therapeutic. I do reiki and meditation and they're still not as good as being on the beach or being in the workshop in my own little world.

Working with wood is a beautiful thing. If you take off the bark and stand back and look at it, you see the beauty of the wood underneath it. I couldn't paint or varnish the driftwood. I wax it to bring out the beauty. I don't want to mask it. That's a matter of taste, though.

The sea is the most fascinating, beautiful and dangerous thing in the world. There's something in it that attracts you back all the time. Spending time by the water really helps to clear the mind. I couldn't live without the sea. I live in Tallaght at the moment and can get to the beach in 15 minutes if there isn't any traffic. That's about as far as I could live from it.

Some of the greatest memories from my childhood were formed in Dun Laoghaire baths and Blackrock baths. The fun we had was something else. It's a really sad thing that they've been allowed to close and become derelict. The baths gave such joy to the people who lived nearby and used them all the time, but now they're completely dilapidated and of no use to anyone. Such a shame.

In the summer me and my wife walk the pier in Sandycove or the beach in Booterstown most evenings. We spend time looking for nice bits of wood while we're taking in the sea air. It's the best feeling. The only thing you can hear is the water and the seagulls and there's nothing nicer. It brings me back to happy childhood places, a time with no worries and no stress."