From Messenger Boy to President's Jeweler: The Story of Aidan Breen

Aidan Breen is a master Irish Gold & Silversmith and a long time collaborator of My Irish Jeweler. In 2023, we commissioned Aidan to make a limited edition, handcrafted Claddagh pendant for us.

Aidan invited us out to his workshop in north Dublin to collect the pendants. Over the course of his long and storied career, Aidan has become one of the leading figures in Celtic design. So we took the opportunity to chat to him about his days as an apprentice, his favorite projects and why so many years on, he still loves what he does.

How did you get started with your craft?

I started as messenger boy at M.H. Gill & Sons, a printer, publisher and metal workshop. I used to draw and paint, though, and my mentor Mr. Barnes, he used to encourage me to do that. Then a job came up as an apprentice chaser and I grabbed it. I was delighted to do it and I took to it like a duck to water.

What exactly does a chaser do?

We have a little hammer and we tap the design in. As opposed to engraving, we don’t take any metal away; we just move the metal around, so it’s indented into it. Chasing is from the front side and repoussé is when you knock it up from the back.

And how did you first become interested in Celtic design?

My father used to bring me to the museums and art galleries when I was a child. I would make trips into the National Gallery or the National Museum and I would be fascinated by all the artefacts. In the foyer of the National Museum, they had all the Celtic crosses in plaster, nice size models of them. They used to fascinate me. The Irish culture, my heritage, fascinated me.

You’ve created many notable pieces over the years, including one for the Irish President.

I made a piece for Mary McAleese when she was going up for election [in 1997]. I had made a brooch for her friend. It’s a brooch I’ve been doing down the years of the children of Lir, who were turned into swans by their stepmother, Aoife. Mary McAleese’s friend gave her a loan of this brooch and wasn’t she elected president! So, she kind of looked upon it as a lucky omen.

Did you know that she was planning to wear it?

It was a total shock to me. As a matter of fact, a friend rang up and said, “Look on the television or in the papers, you’ll see Mary McAleese is wearing your brooch.” … I was delighted. And I can tell you something: it’s done me a great deal of good. Every time she appeared wearing it, people said “Oh jeeze, I want one of them.” It kind of happened out of the blue but it didn’t do me any harm, you know.

What are some of the other highlights of your career?

One of the things I’m most proud of is the two-foot sculpture I’ve done for the national Assay office, which is the place that regulates the precious metal industry in Ireland. They commission pieces from silversmiths so they can have a representative sample of what people in the trade are making. In 2005, they commissioned me to make a piece and the only instruction they gave me was, “We don’t want it to be a dish.” Well, I’ve always been interested in James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” so I said I’d do a piece on it.

Tell us more about the design of that piece

I was reading the last chapter or episode, the Molly Bloom soliloquy, and she’s talking about a Moorish wall in Gibraltar and I said, “Why the hell couldn’t it be a Moorish tower wall, right?” So with that I was off, because I said I could put the 18 episodes like bricks around the tower and I could put the tower in a bed of blooms and I could give my take on each episode of “Ulysses” on this thing.

How long did that take to complete?

Oh, I was on it for years, but I didn’t work on it full time. I wouldn’t say I ever worked on it for a week full. If I had nothing to do, I used to go out and do that, or I’d go out and work on it at night. I missed it when it went. I did.

You’ve been working as a gold and silversmith for decades. What has kept you at it for so long?

I’m in my 70's now, so I’ve been doing this over 60 years!? I love the fact that I work for myself and that I’m able to go out to my shed and do the work out there and get paid for what I do. I’m amazed sometimes because I really had no training in jewelry. I just make what I like and fortunately other people like it as well. Sometimes I’ll be working in me shed and saying, “What the hell am I doing here? What good is this to humanity or what have you?” - without being too highfalutin, if you know what I mean. But, some people have told me that I’ve been involved in love stories and brought happiness to people. So, I feel like I’m part of the community.