THE BRICK CARVER - north Herefordshire
Made from brick pieces found on beaches or river beds, these hearts (about 11cm wide x 3cm thick) can be indoor or outdoor ornaments; teapot stands; they can be set within path or patio pavings and steps; I also make thinner ones (about 20mm thick) that can be set within the face of a plastered wall indoors, or in the face of a rendered wall outdoors. (See Gallery C). Plus bigger ones cut from stone or old quarry tiles, and tiny heart shaped paperweights. Some customers have used one to mark the burial spot of a much loved pet.
Bottles are drilled to accommodate dried flower or twig displays - or merely to stand as ornaments in their own right. Individually carved, they all differ.
My name is Jan Latusek ("Joz")
(informally raised as 'John' and still showing as such on very old pages)
Most of my working life involved the design, construction and restoration of buildings ... and for six years I also worked as a rural postman. Now retired, I still work with bricks and other building materials, but from an artistic angle instead.
I salvage hundred year old clay bricks from demolished Victorian or Edwardian buildings - bricks that might otherwise be crushed as hardcore or dumped in landfill. Imperial size (slightly larger than modern metric bricks). Including some that were produced at brickworks in Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Shropshire and Radnorshire.
I carve them into characterful bookends, doorstops, candleholders, letters & numerals, garden & hearthside ornaments, paperweights. No two are identical - some are totally unique. I am not aware of anyone else in the UK doing this, so they make very unusual gifts, many of them at very affordable prices! Gifts that can last for hundreds of years.
I also produce individual wooden items crafted from reclaimed timber. And occasionally ceramic items, plus my own range of local photographic greetings cards.
FUTURE EVENTS:
Herefordshire Art Week 5 - 13 Sept 2026. Display/sale at Grange Court, Leominster. https://www.h-art.org.uk/explore/artist/jan-latusek
PAST EVENTS:
- Herefordshire Art Week.
- HELLENS GARDEN FESTIVAL - Much Marcle. Plants, food, music, art and crafts, and all in keeping with nature. Sculpture trail, affordable healthy food, traditional crafts.
- EXHIBITION. The Old Stables Gallery, Tourist Information Centre, Leominster. With metalcraft artist Paul Thomas, photographer Linda Thomas.
- BROMYARD HOP FESTIVAL.
- Local events at Pencombe, Ullingswick, Dinmore, Leominster, Hay-on-Wye, Hereford.
- Malvern Autumn Show, Three Counties Showground.
- Heritage Centre Gallery, Bromyard; 2017 Spring Exhibition.
Born in Leominster, Herefordshire. Brought up in Birmingham, but escaped to the Cotswolds, then Carmarthenshire. Then back home in Herefordshire, 60 years after leaving! Based in Leominster. Email me at breconeer@gmail.com or message me via my Facebook page - especially if you can offer me a suitable local storage space for bricks and wood, or regular/occasional display space. Or if you regularly dispose of hardwood offcuts (including heavily weathered ones such as old oak or chestnut fence posts).. And especially if you can offer me a namestamped old brick or two such as used as doorstops on my 'Gallery C' page!
Website last updated 5 March 2026