Tank goodness ¤980

Bright and breezyfrom ¤1,074

The Tall Tank lamp in bright green is the brainchild ofthe young British designer Alexander Taylor forEstablished & Sons, the contemporary-quirky furnitureretailer. It is a floor-standind addition to Taylor’s rangeof Tank lamps, with a cast-aluminium base and tubularsteel stem. It measures 1.8m high and also comes inblack or white. Stocked in Ireland at Terry Furniture inPortadown, 048 3833 3215, www.terryfurniture.co.uk

INNER VISION property.ireland@sunday-times.ie

As soon as the Interior Designand Art Fair at the RDS hadwrapped up in May, therumour mill in the Irish inte-riors industry began to creakand churn. “Pssst! A furniture

designer sold one of his tables at the fair— for ¤72,000.”

“In a recession? It must have beenone hell of a table.”

It was a hell of a table — a JosephWalsh table. Its lucky buyer may havebeen relieved of wads of cash, but notmerely for the pleasure of spilling ciabat-ta crumbs on a nice piece of polishedFrench walnut. As an owner of an origi-nal Walsh, he or she is now a collector,sitting on a long-term investment.

Walsh belongs to a select group ofartisans whose work straddles theworlds of furniture-making and art. Histables, cabinets and consoles havetranscended the relatively small Irishfurniture-making scene to make asplash with private collectors across theAtlantic, where he is represented bytwo leading galleries.

In short, Walsh has done whatwas once unthinkable for an Irish crafts-man: he has “made it” in America.

When the Mint Museum of Art inNorth Carolina was selecting 10 artiststo create a piece for the opening of itsnew museum in 2010, Walsh was theonly Irishman and also the sole furni-ture-maker to be chosen.

His work has been lauded in Architec-tural Digest and several other respecteddesign publications, and he was invitedto exhibit a large art installation at Sofa

(the Sculptural Objects and FunctionalArts fair) in Chicago in 2007.

Last year, he presented his first soloUS exhibition at the American IrishHistorical Society, in New York, andthese days nobody balks when hisimportance on the Irish art and designspectrum is compared to that of EileenGray’s. That’s not bad for a self-taughtfurniture-maker from Co Cork.

“I started young and had no formaleducation in it, so I sort of grew intowhat I’m doing today,” says Walsh,who describes his work as falling“between the different worlds of furni-ture design and sculptural design”.

He is as obsessive about what a piecesays as about what it does. “The past 10years have been about defining my ownpath,” he says. “I’ve worked in anumber of styles, but my work hasbecome more consistent and defined. Ican see a more distinctive expression init now. My work is more sophisticatedin form and in structure.”

Last month, Walsh had his workexhibited at Design Miami/Basel, inSwitzerland, by Cristina Grajales, a NewYork Gallery. He has just been acceptedto show at Grassimesse, an internation-al forum for applied art and productdesign in Leipzig, Germany. “WhereI’m taking my work is an area that notmany people participate in,” he says.“The design art market involves piecescollected for their expressive value, andthe market for it is small.”

Walsh’s newest piece, the SanMartin (the one allegedly sold at theRDS), is a sculptural table consisting of

two interlocking forms made of walnutand bronze, but it is entirely functional.

Walsh is averse to the buzz about hissuccess, particularly when it is meas-ured in monetary terms. He admits thathe did sell a table at the fair but won’treveal the amount. His Prism series,meanwhile, is a further step away fromtraditional wooden furniture. ThePrism console, cabinet and suite are allloosely based on the human form — geo-metric and yet delicate.

Walsh is a realist about the Irish fur-niture design scene: it’s healthy and itoozes talent, but it is restrictively small.There is no sophisticated furniture-manufacturing industry in Ireland; itrevolves around studios.

Walsh is proof that larger-scalesuccess on an international platform ispossible. He cites John Lee and LauraMays as furniture-makers who “standtall internationally”. Lee’s Carrigeen,for example, was bought by the Nation-al Museum of Ireland, and Farraige, hissculptural chest of drawers, was select-ed to be shown at Sofa.

The Cream of Irish Design exhibitionat the RDS Interior Design and Art Fairshowcased the best of the country’sdesigners, many of whom have gar-nered reputationsabroad.

Featuredwere 21 ofwhat ShaneHolland, itscurator, con-sidered to bethe best Irishdesigners whoare runningfull-time work-shops. Theyincluded StevanHartung, theMcGonigle sis-ters, Zelouf &Bell, Garvan deBruir,Liz Nilsson andCeadogan rugs.

All are creatinghigh-quality, design-led furniture, sculpture andglass, and all aim to make work that will

hold its own internationally.Holland has also had the internation-

al spotlight shone on his own business,Shane Holland Design Workshops,since he designed lighting for the newJurys hotel in Kensington, London, aswell as a bar in Paris. When Swarovski,the luxury crystal glassbrand, pulledout of a lighting installation at a Londondesign fair last year, Holland was askedto step into the breach.

Last year he travelled to Dubai withfellow Irish designers Michelle O’Don-nell and Klimmek Henderson to meetsome of the biggest developers workingin the Middle East.

“People aren’t concerned with wherea work is from; they’re interested in itsquality,” says Holland. “You have to beable to work with the best. People sim-ply won’t buy something just because itis Irish. The only way to achieve in thisfield is by being good enough.”

l+ www.josephwalshstudio.com;www.shanehollanddesign.com;www.johnleefurniture.com;www.klimmek-henderson.com

The Mini OM is a smaller versionof Elica’s extractor hood, andcomes in a range of colours. Thesilk-screen painted glass frontmakes it possible to change thecolour when you want, by simplychanging the glass. It is ideal forcompact kitchens. It costs¤1,074 for the black or whiteversion and ¤1,245 in colour.KAL, 01 413 6400, www.kal.ie

Dublin is finally getting a retroand antiques fair, to take placeon the first Sunday of everymonth. The first one takes placetoday at the D4 hotel (formerlyJury’s Inn) in Ballsbridge from11am to 6pm. Entry costs ¤3and this Beswick Zebrette vasefrom the 1950s (¤75) is justone of the retro finds on offer.www.antiquesfairireland.com

Farraige, Lee’s oakchest of drawers

Retro returns ¤75

Floral prints are in bloom againthis summer. These bold lotusprint chairs from DiamondLiving are formal enough forthe dining room, but retain acontemporary casual feel.Available in red and beige,the lotus chairs have beenreduced to ¤129 and areavailable to purchase online,with delivery within seven days.The furniture supplier also hasoutlets at Airside retail parkin Swords, at the EP Mooneyretail centre on Longmile Roadand at Beacon South Quarterin Sandyford.www.diamondliving.ie, 1850454443

Steal of theweekLotus-print chairWas ¤175 Now ¤129

Walsh’s SanMartin table; right, the Golden Delicious table, made by Lee

Walshwith one of the chairs fromhis sculptural series called Figure of 6

Manwhocarvedout his future

When a self-taughtfurniture-maker sellsa table for a reported¤72,000, it’s clearthat things arehappening in theworld of Irish design

DARAFLYNN

18 home COVER STORY

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