In the 10+ years since Úna Burke commenced her crafting of leather accessories – their aesthetic equal parts luxurious and forward-looking – the London-based Irish designer has carved out a considerable fanbase.
Having landed her first commission from none other than Lady Gaga (a recurring champion of Irish Design, it would seem, considering her love of Colin Horgan and Sorcha O’Raghallaigh), Burke has since dressed Madonna, Heidi Klum, Rihanna and many more in her carefully-sculptured braces and body pieces.
Listing off her creative collaborators in full – as far-ranging as Ozzy Osborne and the 2012 Olympics – would warrant a page’s worth of word count. Burke’s 2019 will be just as jam-packed, showcasing at several craft exhibitions in Paris and Basel and continuing her workshop-teaching in Beijing and Kuwait, and to sate any keen New Yorkers, she has just launched a small selection of pieces for Bergdorf Goodman’s new boutique-style edit, NOIR, curated by the department store’s visionary Linda Fargo.
She’ll probably be selling in outer space before the year is out.
Words: Amelia O’Mahony-Brady
