Philip O’Brien | West Yorkshire - Courses | Classes

Short Courses

Partly carved dryad, with closed eyes and twining vines. Carved from stone with hand-tools beside it.

Classes

Commissions

Away-Days

Gift Vouchers

Exhibitions

Meet

I’m Philip O’Brien, a stone carver working from my studio in Luddendenfoot, West Yorkshire. I run courses for beginners and experienced carvers, take commissions for lettering and sculpture, and occasionally make pieces that follow their own path.

Philip O’Brien
Sculptor/Tutor

Short Courses

Stone carving for beginners

Carving stone is less about strength and more about rhythm. A steady hand and patient eye can bring lasting shapes to life. I run short courses for beginners, plus weekly classes for those who want to build skill over time. All tools and stone are provided.

Focus

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Build Skill, Week by Week

Weekly stone carving classes

Learning slowly over time lets the craft settle into your hands. Each week adds confidence, precision and understanding. Classes run throughout the year and are open to all levels.

Practice

Coming soon

Carved Just For You

Bespoke stone commissions

A commission is a conversation in stone. Together we shape an idea into something unique, tangible and enduring. I carve house signs, commemorative plaques, sculpture and memorials in a range of British stones.

Trust

Commission a piece

Carve Together, Work Together

Creative away-days

Stone carving brings people out of routine and into shared focus. Teams leave with a piece of stone and a sense of achievement. Away-days can be tailored for groups of up to 6 and are run from the studio.

A set of stone-carving tools in a leather tool-wrap

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Adventures in stone

Carving doesn’t always follow tradition.

Alongside lettering and knots, I sometimes explore more playful or abstract forms — like a curlew taking shape in limestone, a guineafowl pared back to simple curves, or a dachshund reimagined after Gaudier-Brzeska.

Each piece starts with the same tools, yet leads somewhere unexpected. These sculptures are about finding character in the stone and letting it speak in a different way.