About Us

luke in his leather apron 

PREMIUM QUALITY TABLETOP GAMING

Dakota Irish means artisan quality, handcrafted wooden tabletop gaming accessories as well as incredibly unique and stunning dice. It combines my passion for artisan craftsmanship and woodworking with my love and appreciation for dice and role-playing games (like Dungeons & Dragons).


I started this journey in the summer of 2017 when I opened my Etsy shop and listed my first product - wood dice trays. To date I’ve built a strong following on Etsy and am now in the top 5 shops in Ireland and top 2000 globally.  And in 2018 I opened this site in order to directly serve you guys.  


I am constantly releasing new products and evolving my current offerings and (as always!) I have huge plans for 2020 :) I hope you enjoy your visit!


You can also check me out on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter @dakotairishie. Thanks for stopping by! 


- Luke McIntosh, owner, designer and craftsman.

 

 

 

WHAT PRODUCTS DO WE CREATE?

When playing tabletop games we are often roll dice - sometimes a LOT of dice - and we need some way of containing them so they don't roll off the table. 

Hence the tabletop dice tray - a compact and contained space to roll dice - became my first product,  Soon afterwards I also started making dice towers, dice boxes, and much more!

 rosewood dice tray and tower
luke making a dice tray

HOW DO WE SOURCE OUR MATERIALS?

All of my wood & fabrics are hand-picked and sourced locally from suppliers dedicated to quality and sustainability. You can rest assured that your piece was created to the highest standards and with minimal environmental impact.

HOW DO WE CRAFT OUR PRODUCTS?

Each piece is lovingly handcrafted to exacting standards using only the finest woods and natural materials.  For each piece I choose a wood for its character, grain, coloring, and appearance making each one truly distinctive and unique.

After assembling each part, I brand the piece with my mark, glue the piece and sand it down to 240 grit. I then finish with a sealer, 3 coats of traditional shellac, and a good polish.  Finally the lining goes in (if it's a tray) and the piece is packaged for delivery.
spalted beech burl with purpleheart divider

WHY SHOULD YOU BUY OUR PRODUCTS?

Besides being beautiful and unique pieces of art, Dakota Irish products are designed with you, the player, in mind.

From the shock-absorbing base, high walls, and slotted divider of my dice trays to the perfect fit and randomizing tumblers in my dice towers, every aspect of my products are by design.

You'll recieve a product that will last a lifetime and looks, feels, & sounds absolutely amazing.

 

 

Luke McIntosh

Dungeon Master, Owner, Designer, Craftsman

Luke works from his studio in Co. Carlow Ireland along with his assistant, Whiskey, a cat that’s always pretty pissed off, three kids, an amazingwife.com and 2 other pups who the Bernese pretty much thinks he owns.  Because he's huge.

Luke also DMs a weekly homebrew D&D 5E campaign where he emotionally and mentally tortures his players while making them think they're enjoying themselves.  He also plays the occasional video game.

Mrs Dakota Irish

Hoomon Relations, Marketing, Recruitment

Róisín helps keep the shop on track by making us do tedious, necessary things and helping Luke with marketing and advertising. She also comes up with great dice names and gets the credit for coming up with the name Dakota Irish! She's also kinda cute.

Whiskey

Chief Assistant, Mascot, Destroyer of Tissues

Whiskey is a Bernese Mountain dog who thinks he’s a person and counts chewing up 20 euro notes among his many eating habits.  He also enjoys belly rubs, destroying tissues, plastic items, toys, and pens. Whiskey helps out in the workshop by blessing dice, keeping up morale and getting in everyone's way when it's busy.

 Staff portraits by Dominique Green - @greedomie