Joseph Tanue Forsuh is a native of Bamenda, Cameroon, West Africa. He moved to Ireland almost twenty years ago where he met his Irish wife, Dorothy.

As a child, Joseph designed and made his own toys from scrap metal, bamboo, and wood. From early on becoming an in demand woodworker and furniture designer. In Ireland, he studied Furniture Design at Galway Technical Institute; following this by a degree in Wood Technology with GMIT Letterfrack, Centre for Excellence in Connemara, Co. Galway. By then, he craved to work with glass, metal and wood. His kiln-formed glass standing pieces offer fulfilment to this dream.

In September 2013 Joseph took up a ten months internship in Kiln-formed glass with the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland. In April 2016, as if by divine appointment, Joseph and Dorothy began a company which is now a thriving glass gallery and shop.

The glass designs of Joseph Tanue Forsuh offer a unique experience for all kinds of art collectors. Engaging with art through this medium is an immersive experience which changes how you see glass forever. Some of his work comes by revelation through dreams. The breath-taking coastal backdrop of the ‘Emerald Isle’ also inspires his process. Ponds, streams, waterfalls, and the crashing waves are notable influences to his work. For him, art through the medium of glass is multi-layered and vital. It lifts the spirit. With ever-changing natural light, it comes alive, each altering moment a new and unforgettable conversation within any space. Without doubt, the projection of colour and 3-D effect of his art is powerful. His confident colour arrangements are influenced by his heritage.

Joseph has great grace to offer such a breadth to the spectrum of stories through his wall art and standing pieces. Producing large-scale installations, his work is brought to life through not only what is on display at Connemara Handcrafted Glass, but through commissions and collaborations with private and corporate clients.

Dorothy Forsuh is responsible for producing smaller scale art and tableware which offers a unique experience for all kinds of art collectors.

As a young child, Dorothy remembers how she loved to tuck herself away in the corner of a field partly sheltered from the rain by the hedge and woven in farm fertilizer bags through the overhanging branches of young saplings. There she would create all kinds of concoctions, such as squeezing the juice from elderberries picked just metres from her retreat when they were in season and storing the properly murky coloured liquid in jars. That little shelter also required the odd bit of carpentry, which she took to with great gusto. Because of the age gap and absence of her siblings, she was always alone. She recalls these moments as most fulfilling; solving problems and improving the space with the little resources she had.

Dorothy, early on, took a course in advertising and design. She has studied fine art, mixed media, sales and sales management. Later, having studied combined materials and design, it was a natural progression that she followed her husband into glass making. Having arrived in Connemara in 2008 and, like many other artists who loved to explore the region, Dorothy immersed herself creatively, studying and thriving. For her, the textures which the landscape of the west of Ireland offer are incomparable. 

From the craggy Twelve Bens in Connemara to the area of natural beauty of the Burren, which offers a unique style of stone wall to other counterparts. The oversized lozenge-shaped stones give a level of grandeur to its walls and a sense of the majestic to its accompanying raw stone pillars found in the entrances to agricultural land. Scenes which you cannot find anywhere else in Ireland. It deeply rooted the formation of her process. Through the varied natural stone walls found in the west of Ireland and the countless photos she has taken of them. She grounds her abstract designs and individually designed sets of tableware in the sense she gains from these experiences.