Standard Setters: Joseph Walsh Prizing Craft
Eleanor Flegg discusses the furniture designs of Joseph Walsh, chosen by a panel of experts on behalf of the Crafts Council of Ireland to acknowledge consistency in design excellence

Furniture is designed to support the human form and is inclined towards stolidity. As consumers we like a piece of furniture with four feet firmly planted on the floor; it looks as though it won't let us down. Although it's perfectly possible to create visually dynamic forms that are functionally safe and solid, the craft of furniture design has tended to err on the side of reassurance.
In this sense the furniture of Joseph Walsh does not do what is expected of it. His pieces look as though they've been captured in a moment of dance. Some barely seem to touch the ground; others appear to be on the point of flight. Despite this they have an undeniable functionality, sometimes combining their optical lightness with sheer physical heft. You could not get much more solid, for example, than his chaise longue: a massive piece in olive ash. As much sculpture as furniture, it is designed to fit the human figure at ease and is supported on a weighty base of silver Carlow granite.

Other pieces are altogether flightier. Figure Dancing, a table in olive ash, oak and burr elm, combines the balletic twist of a dancer in motion with the grain and texture of wood. Figure 6, a chair in olive ash, is made of a single piece of wood, sliced and laminated into the curved and complex form of the numeral 6, upon which the sitter balances, delicately suspended in mid air. Both pieces carry the sense of extreme technical proficiency melded into an expressive form.

Joseph Walsh has been designing and making furniture at his studio in Riverstick near Kinsale, in County Cork, Ireland, since 1998, but his experimentation with wood began at an early age, encouraged by his grandfather's love of woodcarving and marquetry. 'I began my career in traditional furniture making. This is where I developed my making skills and my appreciation of traditional Irish farmhouse furniture design'. Over the years, as his natural aptitude for design developed, Walsh began to expand his repertoire into more innovative and vibrant forms.

He works predominantly with native Irish timbers, although rare and luxurious materials such as burr elm, Connemara marble, and precious metals also put in an appearance. Each piece is not only commissioned as a functional piece of furniture but as a collectable object. 'Making each piece of furniture to commission, I became conscious of the value of design and alternative making techniques. My awareness of this increased as I travelled to the United Kingdom and Scandinavia, visiting other designer-makers and museums. I was inspired by the ambitious forms that they created, especially by the boat-building techniques of Scandinavia, and I began to find my own path to both designing and making'. Walsh's clients supported his new direction with some significant commissions from the corporate, diplomatic, liturgical and private sectors. He sees this as the greatest endorsement of his work: 'They have encouraged me to keep pushing the boundaries of imagination and design. I like to think my studio is on an uncharted path, guided only by the sensitive use of materials, excellence in making, and my constant search for purity in form.'

Summer 2005 saw the completion of a purpose-built design studio and exhibition space alongside Walsh's workshop. This new space provides clients with an opportunity to view and appreciate completed works or
discuss potential commissions in the tranquil setting of Kinsale. n
www.josephwalshbespoke.com