Kieran O’Toole
Founder and writer, Heron & Moss
Heron & Moss grew from a long-standing fascination with homes — not only how they look, but how they are lived in, remembered and made our own.
I am a writer based in Glenbeigh, County Kerry, on the southwest coast of Ireland. Before retiring in 2026, I spent thirty-four years in primary education, including more than two decades as a school principal. Those years left me with an enduring interest in people, place, memory and the stories hidden within apparently ordinary lives.
I have always been drawn to the things that give a place its particular character: the way light falls into a room, the objects we choose to keep, the table people gather around, the food prepared for them, and the memories that become attached to places almost without our noticing.
Studying interior design deepened my interest in the homes we create, but increasingly I found myself drawn beyond the appearance of rooms to the stories, objects, traditions and everyday rituals that give them meaning. Heron & Moss grew from there.
Alongside the writing, I run a small architectural visualisation studio, working with clients across Ireland to help them see a room or home before materials are chosen and decisions are made.
Here I write personal essays and stories about home, memory, food, objects and place, many rooted in Kerry and the west of Ireland but concerned with experiences that travel much further: belonging, family, friendship, change, loss, gratitude and the ordinary moments that remain with us.
I have also completed two full-length manuscripts exploring many of the same themes — home, memory and the people and places that shape us — and continue to write towards a third.
The stories, the food, the objects and the spaces may appear to be different things, but to me they belong together.
Heron & Moss is about home in the broadest sense — the spaces we create, the lives we live within them, and the things we carry with us afterwards.
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