The strong nature of leather  and how it ages with beauty were the factors that drew Una Burke to the medium.

The multi-awarded London-based leather artisan creates distinctive conceptual art and stunning fashion pieces that captivate design enthusiasts, as well as a stellar clientele that includes Rihanna, Madonna, Lady Gaga and Daphne Guinness.

The Irish-born Burke, featured guest designer of the British Council Philippines at the recent Look of Style Awards 2013, makes abstract body pieces, sculptural belts, corsets, handbags, headpieces and jewelry from vegetable-tanned bovine hides. Her intricate construction technique uses leather strips and panels bound with brass screws and fittings.

Burke, a cobbler’s granddaughter, began working with leather when she was a fashion student in her native Ireland about 10 years ago. She also worked on the production line of a bag company to learn how to handle the specific characteristics of leather.

“I appreciated its strong nature, and I respect the history and heritage of leather,” she says. “It’s a natural, beautiful material, and I like how it ages with beauty, especially for someone like me who’s not into the disposable kind of fashion. I like to create something that will last a long time and become better with age.”

She was only 2 when her grandfather died, and while she never got to learn from him (her great-grandfather was also a shoemaker), the young woman feels there’s something in her veins

that drew her to leather like her forebears. She works with leather preserved with natural materials like wood barks, preferring it to the chrome-tanned type, as the former is friendlier to the environment.

In 2007, Burke moved to London and earned her MA in Fashion Artifact at the London College of Fashion. Her award-winning graduate collection, and every collection thereafter, would come with a compelling story and research, and based on some psychological reference point, or from military history. Some of her pieces were shown at the Look of Style Awards in Buddha Bar.

“Re.Treat,” Burke’s graduate collection, was largely conceptual, depicting human trauma. Taken apart, the pieces were meant to be worn around the bodice, as arm and leg braces, and neck, shoulder and head accessories.

“The story behind them is trauma, and how we build up after a trauma,” the designer explains. “Human beings are so resilient, we create coping mechanisms. You guys know all about these. What I made were visual representations of the emotional barriers that we sometimes have to build in order to protect ourselves and stay strong, like a coping mechanism. But then sometimes people can trap themselves within that.”

She based her design on medieval war armor and constructed leather strips with metal fittings, and yet still maneuverable, enabling the wearer to still function normally but, at the same time, be protected. The narrative is that that same protection can just as easily entrap the person.

“I created pieces that ended up being very restrictive,” said Burke, “so I used the language of gesture. It’s a universal language, it cuts across nationalities and language barriers. We can easily see if someone is trapped within, judging by the arm movements and gestures. I used the body as a reference point rather than [my design as] functional art pieces.”

People have interpreted her work as fetishistic, but she insists that that’s not the intent, though she admits that it’s understandable if some people may think that way.

More wearable

While the concept for “Re.Treat” would spawn “Trans.Form,” her sophomore collection, Burke this time made her pieces decisively more wearable and less restrictive. A designer, after all, needs to feed her body as much as her soul.

“For the first couple of seasons, I had a very strong narrative but almost to the detriment of the wearability,” she notes. Today, she only creates a couple of conceptual pieces that are exhibited in galleries or exhibits, while the rest are more of a commercial bent.

“I can sell that art piece as well, but it doesn’t come as frequently as selling a seasonal fashion collection,” she says. Her collections are sold in at least 12 countries. Asia is her strongest market; her work is available in Hong Kong at Joyce and On Pedder, and at Ashley Isham and On Pedder in Singapore.

Since she creates pieces that last a long time, Burke says it’s kind of detrimental to her work as buyers don’t buy every season. But in the end, it’s not much of an issue for this woman who’s highly opposed to fast fashion.

“It’s good that fashion is more accessible for the consumer who doesn’t have much money. But the ethics of it… How can a shirt be £1? Somebody must be suffering somewhere because of that. I’m sure people just close their eyes and say, ‘I’m sure it’s okay.’ You don’t see it and you turn a blind eye and you think you’re not doing anything wrong.”

She says a designer needs a product that stands out in order to attract a global audience. “There’s so much competition out there. It’s also very important to know the culture and set of values for each local market.”

Look of Style, a project of Inquirer Lifestyle and Look Magazine with the British Council, is on its fourth year, and the presence of Burke continues the tradition of inviting a UK-educated designer to present his/her work at the annual event.

The fashion-design contest awards the winner a scholarship grant for a short course at Central Saint Martins in London, the alma mater of Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Stella McCartney, among other fashion heavyweights. This year, an accessories category was introduced, with the winner awarded a scholarship at Sheffield Hallam University in South Yorkshire.

Nicholas Thomas, the new director of the British Council Philippines, says they’re exploring several ideas in terms of continuing the cultural exchange between the Philippines and the UK.

“It’s very difficult to pinpoint very concrete programs at the moment,” he says. “But definitely we’re interested in the combination of arts and education. We see a real demand in the Philippines in terms of education in a whole range of creative industries in the UK, and we see opportunities for UK educational institutions to work with Philippine counterparts, for example in fashion design courses. These are very interesting areas to explore.”

He couldn’t say, however, if the partnership for Look of Style would continue under his stewardship. But he notes that “it’s a really good competition, and what’s good about it is that it combines creative industries and education… I was in China for a long time and I didn’t know much about the Philippines before coming here. What struck me is how much potential there is in the Philippines. There’s a lot of optimism and the economy is growing well. It’s a good time to be here.”