A New LifeLiam Caulfield worked as Ben Dunne's bodyguard, but he's no longer in the line of fire, writes Danielle Barron
'Bodyguard has this very military sound to it!" laughs Liam Caulfield.
His previous career in security didn't exactly involve dodging bullets, but now he's certainly out of the line of fire, having set up a glass business based in his Swords home.
While Caulfield enjoyed working as Ben Dunne's bodyguard, he finds designing and cutting one-of-a-kind glass pieces ultimately more relaxing.
"I started in retail management years ago and that developed into retail security," says Caulfield. After 15 years working as a security guard in Dunnes Stores, Ben Dunne requested that Caulfield join his personal security staff.
"There was a team of us who worked looking after him and his family and securing his home. It was on a fairly low-key basis really, it wasn't a very overt security operation," explains Caulfield.
This job came to an end after the well-documented split between Ben Dunne and the retail chain that bears his name. As security staff, Caulfield and his team were actually employed by Dunnes Stores and this meant that they could no longer continue to work for Dunne personally.
"He was a fantastic person to work for and I imagine that had things been different I might still be there working for him," he admits.
The security staff were reassigned to other positions within the company and Caulfield worked in head office in an administrative capacity for a couple of years. There, he found himself increasingly unfulfilled and began to consider a change in career.
It was on holiday in the south of France that Caulfield came across a small glassmaking factory in a village he was visiting. "They were making these absolutely incredible little glass sculpture pieces and I thought it was just fascinating. What they did was layer several layers of glass but engrave each layer as they went along, so you got this beautiful 3-dimensional effect," he says.
The Gallic craftsmen were extremely helpful in explaining the process of what they did and Caulfield found himself intrigued.
"It was just something that really took my fancy. When I came back to Ireland I looked into it and bought some machinery and starting doing it on a part-time basis, almost like a hobby," he says. "The funny thing was I had no experience in glass at all before, I'd never really handled glass and so knew nothing about it."
He did, however, have some artistic qualifications, having completed courses in the National College of Art and Design after leaving school.
He soon began to learn more about his new-found pastime, using the internet for research and speaking to others with experience in glass and crystal. He says people were very helpful, especially those from whom he bought machinery.
"Obviously they wanted to sell the machines, so they were full of advice on what I could use the equipment to do," he smiles.
What was initially a hobby eventually developed into a thriving business.
"Caulfield Glass really has developed. From designing small hand-crafted pieces, I would say we are now one of the largest private crystal personalisation companies in the State," says Caulfield.
But, like with any new business, there were a few teething problems. "For the first couple of years it was quite a struggle financially, holidays were out and meals out and things like that certainly went down."
Trying to get the business off the ground also meant long working hours. The shift work involved in his previous job as a security guard meant that Caulfield was used to working on a week-on, week-off basis.
"Two weeks off every month is a terrific amount of time off so I did get to spend a lot of time with the family that way," he admits.
While the responsibility of being self-employed means that Caulfield doesn't have as much time off as he did in his previous career, working from home means that he now enjoys a greater flexibility when attending to family matters involving his three children, Laura, Daniel and Adrian.
"I get to spend time with my family when they need me to spend time with them, not when I can. I'm always here for them; for example, if it's raining in the evening, I can collect them from school."
Another advantage of working from home is that he does not have to contend with the city centre traffic. "At four o'clock in the afternoon to seven o'clock in the evening, it's great to listen to the radio and hear how the traffic is backed up from Pearse Street to Macken Street," he laughs. "I don't miss that at all. And anyway, you can be in the rat race without being out in the traffic."
He says that he often finds himself nipping back into one of his two workshops outside work hours to continue working on a particular piece.
"At eight o'clock in the evening, after dinner for example, I might come back into the office and do some more artwork or some promotion work," he says.
He also says he gets great pleasure from designing original pieces, whether it's a trophy for an awards ceremony or a keepsake for a beloved's nuptials.
"I love that, coming up with concepts and designs. I've had people come back to me after the event and say that it went down a storm. It's a great buzz and it's an achievement," he says.
"I just love what I'm doing and I don't want not to be here. It's creative and it's consuming and it's given me a much better quality of life."