Bronze Tuam Chair

"This is a bronze cast of a tuam chair made in 2015. I designed it but it was cast by Willie Malone in his workshop in Dublin. I am an architect and was working on a public art project in Tuam. Printmaker David Lilburn is also working on the project. As part of the research for the art project, myself and David learned of the Tuam chair which is a type of ancient Irish chair. Two cabinet makers in Tuam still make them today, Corrib Crafts John and Gabriel Blake, Dowd Furniture Tom and Francis Dowd. The earliest publication mentioning these chairs is from 1832. The art project is placing 12 aluminium chairs in places that are out of the way and the idea is for people to rediscover Tuam using the chair. David has also made a narrative map which also gives hints of the locations in Tuam. The project held an exhibition of images of the chairs in situ and quickly realised that members of the public recognised these items, with many mentioning that they have some in the attic. Al O’Dea in the 1960s set up a furniture making workshop in Tuam, Tom Dowd trained with him. There was a movement to try to bring back furniture making after the war. Al took apart one these Tuam chairs and started to replicate these and producing them. He was quite successful in selling these items at home and abroad and assisted in bringing back the culture of furniture making and was a key player in setting up Letterkenny Furniture making school. "