CORK NATIVE JOSEPH Walsh has only just turned 31 but is already producing some of the world’s most covetable furniture designs.

His work has been collected by the British Duke of Devonshire, by John H Bryan (one of the most important collector of contemporary crafts in the US), a rarely-added to collection of Rafael Vinoly in South America, the Embassy of Japan and our own National Museum, among others.

You have a chance to look at some of his designs in the Oliver Sears Gallery on Molesworth Street, Dublin from now until 27 January next. Walsh has achieved a massive amount for a designer who learned woodworking from his grandfather at the age of 8. By the age of 12, he could make entire dressers and left school to pursue his designs. By 19, he had founded a studio on the family farm near Kinsale and at 23, was being collected by the National Museum.

Walsh has just finished working on an exhibit for the American Historical Society in New York and a work for Swarovski in Milan to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its Crystal Palace exhibition. But don’t take our word for it; The Wall Street Journal this year described him as follows when recommending his ‘Enigmum’ canopy bed as fit for royalty (Kate and Wills, to be exact):

Irish-born designer Joseph Walsh falls into the ‘I don’t know how he does it’ category. Self-taught, his work manages to be sensually stunning and technically brilliant at the same time…

These are some of his designs. What do you think?