NCAD graduate Siobhán Curtis’s passion for leather began in Budapest. She has since honed her skills further, and uses sustainably sourced leather to craft her fluid, modern pieces Leather dress, Siobhán Curtis; model, Odigie Abeiyuwa Taylor; hair, Ololade Oluwadele; make-up, Olena Huliaieva; styling, Orla Dempsey. Photo: Glokit Lens Bambie Thug wearing Siobhán Curtis.
Photo: Evan Doherty Fashion designer Siobhán Curtis. Photo: Aoife Ní Dhuinn ‘I learned to work with leather while I was doing a course in Budapest, Hungary. The application was in English so I thought it would be OK, but when I got there, the entire thing was taught in Hungarian,” says fashion designer Siobhán Curtis, laughing.
Her fellow students helped her by translating, she adds. “Although I was learning about leather, I didn’t know any of the technical terms because of the language barrier.” Back at NCAD, Curtis interned at the Dublin Leather Store in Stoneybatter to fill in her blind spots.
“I learned about traditional craftsmanship and then put my own conceptual twist on it. I’ve been working beside the last master glovemaker in Ireland, Brian Horn.” With her skills honed, Curtis began her concept piece, titled ‘Fight or Flight’.
“For my final-year project, I started with the concept of stress. I’m a very high-stress person behind closed doors. I wondered what stress looks like.
I began making continuous shapes and motions to convey the build-up of stress. “I dippe.
