Frédéric Ruckenbrod, cabinet maker and marquetry worker, was born in Riquewihr in March 1976. At a very young age, thanks to his father, a carpenter and joiner, he discovered his passion for working with wood. At the age of fourteen Frédéric was admitted to the Ecole Boulle in Paris, where he successfully completed the courses for cabinet making and marquetry, graduating with Master Degree in 1997. Returning to Alsace, he joined the world-renowned Spindler workshop. He also worked with a carpentry agency while at the same time producing his first personal pieces of furniture with a contemporary design. His insatiable desire to make new discoveries naturally led him to the workshop of Remy Mahler, organ builder. There he carried out many diverse tasks in carpentry and marquetry in the production of organ pipes and key boards. He also worked with the antiquary Phillipe Donato at Colmar, and through the restoration of antique furniture in solid wood and marquetry, Frédéric rediscovered the ancient working methods of cabinet makers, inlayers and sculptors, and the evolution of their work with wood over the years.

In parallel with his professional development, Frédéric naturally continued to create works in inlaid wood: furniture, pictures, sculptures. These pieces, graced with a totally new sensuality, have a close bond with nature and more precisely with the animal world. Through inlaid wood Frédéric explores and retraces the multiple and inexpressible threads of life which control the animal world and which relate to the world of humans.

Frédéric came to Ireland first in 2007, on a month-and-a-half sabbatical to learn English. While here he was employed at a workshop in Co. Laois. At their request he returned to work there in 2008 and remained with them for a few years. Since 2011 he has been settled in Dublin, with his family, and has established his own workshop where he designs and produces handcrafted and unique pieces of furniture.