Joseph McBrinn previews new work from visionary furniture-maker Joseph Walsh on view this winter at Oliver Sears Gallery, Dublin
Joseph Walsh, perhaps Ireland’s most internationally recognized contemporary furniture maker, has always been surprisingly honest about his work and the time his studio can take to make a single piece. For Sofa (Sculptural Objects and Functional Arts) in Chicago in 2007, Walsh’s installation, a show-stopping floating table entitled In Aer, took a remarkable 6,000 hours to make. It may not be entirely surprising therefore, to learn that even in the new age of austerity people are willing to pay serious prices for Walsh’s honest work; he reputedly sold a cabinet for €69,000 in 2006 and a table for €72,000 in 2009.
Ireland’s most highly regarded architectural émigré is the subject of a new publication and a USA-based exhibition; Ellen Rowley looks at his legacy