Sam Gleeson | Carpenter
Barry Rogerson | Carpenter

When you enter into a conversation with someone who works with their hands, there is a patience about them. I can only guess what the reasons for this are, as I’m no academic anthropologist, but whatever the explanation, keep it up hand specialists. 

The Pixel Trade with Barry & Sam was 80 percent in a noisy workshop and 20 percent eating and drinking. These guys know how to work wood as perfectly as a squirrel knows how to bury their nuts for the winter. They know how to host a trade as perfectly as a beaver knows how to build a dam and they especially know how to live life as perfectly as a tree knows how to grow. Full rim hat off to them.

                   Interview with Sam

Describe your most memorable adventure as a child.

Being stranded at the beach with the tide coming in after going off to investigate a rock pool out of view of my parents….at the time I couldn’t swim very well, id have been about 4 or 5. I remember seeing all this water coming in, getting really scared cos I was cut off, screaming for help and no one coming…..eventually I plucked up the courage to go for it and jumping in….turned out the water was less than knee deep! Ran all the way back to my folks, breathless, but exhilarated, thinking they’d have been missing me for hours…turned out they hadn’t even noticed id gone……was a real turning point in my life tho, brought about a deep respect, love and fascination with the ocean that has stuck with me ever since and fueled all my travels, adventures, work…..so many things in  y life have been under the control of waves ever since!

What is your favourite timber to work with and why?

Id have to say native oak….either irish or English, depending on where im at….we only use ethically sourced, so the tree has been either wind-felled, or disease felled….its reached the end of its life, its not been uprooted for my desire of cutting it up, but nature has seen that it arrives to me as usable timber…..its quite humbling making something beautiful from something that has been growing slowly for so long

How do you heat up soup in the workshop?

Ha!!! Everyone always loves that one…..we don’t have a hob in the workshop, but what we do have is a massive roofers torch…kind of a gas powered flame thrower that we use for our burnt wood creations….also doubles up as a very handing soup heating device….just watch your eyebrows! 

What kind of projects have you really enjoyed working on?

Working with friends helping them build their dreams has always been a big love….ive been lucking to be involved in a few and have a few friends help me realize mine….10 years ago I was building dirt jumps and mountain bike parks with mates, running extreme sports events….since then ive been living in ghana helping long-term childhood friends build and run their eco-lodge and then making the move to Ireland to help ash and luca build the fumbally…really enjoyable having watched them grow with the idea for the last 5 years….and now we’re getting ready to start the next new project

What is it about Dublin that has made you stay and live there?

Having lived on the beach for the last 20 years it was a tough decision to move full time to Dublin, but I needed a bit of a change, I was craving a bit of stability for a while having been hopping between Ireland, Ghana and the Uk for the last 5 years…..and dublins kinda like a giant village rather than a city….plus im really lucky with my friendship group here – its full of really creative and inspiring people who are up and atom and doing and making and creating….theres loads of cool shit going on and its feels like its all one big happy family!!

Are there any hidden, unknown places to visit in the city?

Hmmmm…..sure theres plenty, if im honest, I do tend to get stuck around Dublin 8….i live, work, eat, sleep and exercise there….the workshops there, my house is there, the fumbally is there, the flea market, the swimming pool (I swim laps imagining im still on the beach in ghana watching the sunrise over the palm trees!), a fair few friends live there, theres a great couple of local pubs that do a wonderful pint of Guinness and chesse and ham toasties…..its a wonder I actually manage to get out of Dublin 8 at all sometimes!

Please share three milestone moments in your life.

Learning to swim and consequently learning to surf….has been a massive part of my life, finding it a bit tough being in dublin with it sometimes, but now we have a little work van me and my boards can get wet more often!

Having a year out in Australia at 18 on my own….heading off around the world on my own with a boardbag, rucksack and a picture of a certain wave in my wallet that id been looking at since I was 13 and no real idea of what I was upto….ended up living on a beautiful beach, working in a great little restaurant and properly learning about decent food and produce and getting to surf all the time….kinda forgot that that wasn’t my life and it hadn’t always been that way!

Setting up my own business at 24, chasing a dream and seeing what it would bring….developing the world mountainboarding championships, building crazy jump parks, riding with friends and international heros, just truly believing in what I was doing and doing it!

If you could teach children one thing to carry through life, what would it be?

Never stop dreaming…..i once got told by an ex girlfriend that I dreamt too much and that it’d only lead to disappointment….fuck it!!! If your not dreaming then how you gonna start doing?!!

What is something you haven’t told anyone in a while?

i love you

Describe your most memorable adventure as an adult.

Probably my first big trip to Ghana….id just had my business go bankrupt, I walked out of court with the piece of paper in my hand feeling pretty glum, my phone rang…it was my childhood friends calling from Africa ‘so mate, you gonna get over here now and give us a hand?’

Within a couple of weeks I was living on a beach on the edge of the jungle, building myself a bamboo house, surfing warm waves with no one else for miles around and falling asleep on crisp white linen on a hand-made bed, listening to the sounds of the jungle and breaking waves, eating fresh fish and tropical fruit every day…..not bad!!

If you had to recommend a favourite music album, what would it be?

Hmmmm…..something I listen to lots in the workshop that I never seem to get tired of Alabama shakes   boys and girls….she has the most amzing voice!!!!a