Stephen Burks (designer)

His work is in the collections of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, the High Museum of Art, as well as Corning Museum of Glass. His work is the subject of a forthcoming touring exhibition, "Stephen Burks: Shelter in Place," premiering at the High Museum of Art in September 2022.

In 2015, Burks won the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for product design, the first . In 2019, Stephen became the first product designer to attain a Harvard Loeb Fellowship. Since, he has served as an expert in residence at the Harvard Innovation Lab. He also taught at Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Burks held his eponymous solo exhibition in 2011, named "Stephen Burks: Man Made" in Studio Museum in Harlem, where he exhibited his practice of merging craftsmanship and contemporary design. The exhibition included his work produced with artisans from countries such as South Africa, Senegal, and Peru.

Burks started his own design business at 2007 after meeting with Willard Musarurwa; a street vendor making wire souvenirs for tourists. After meeting each other in a local design institute at Cape Town, they launched TaTu wire outdoor furniture together which focused on Hand-crafted-style designed furniture and Artisan objects.

Burks first founded his personal studio in New York in 1997, then called Readymade. His trademark style, which includes incorporating craftsmanship and collaborating with artisans began in 2000, when Italian design brand Cappellini first put his designs into production. in 2003, Missoni commissioned him for Luxe fashion house. Patchwork vases, designed by him, was the first handmade objects produced in his studio. In 2005, Burks went to South Africa to collaborate with international artisans from countries such as South Africa, Senegal, and Philippines sponsored by Aid to Artisans. There he started working with hand-crafted furniture, baskets and fashion accessories which he became known for later in his career.

Burks was born in Chicago in 1969. He studied architecture and product design at the Illinois Institute of Technology and Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture.