Butter yellow may have been the colour of summer, but it's a butter bag that has taken over our social media feeds.
Over the last number of weeks, Irish fashion fans have undoubtedly scrolled past dazzling photos of a Kerrygold clutch, made with over 5,000 hand-placed Austrian crystals.
The woman behind this sparkling sensation is Kimberly Tino, founder of Maya Grisham.
"Maya is the name of my youngest," the founder explains of the name. "I remember sitting in the library studying - I'm an optometry student - before I started the business in November of 2023. I was in the library and I looked up and I saw a book and the author's name was Grisham, and I thought, 'there we go'."
With two young children to raise and a degree in optometry to study for, starting a business was a true labour of love for the Meath woman.
"I guess the idea to start the whole sparkly bag business was that I'm someone who loves fashion, but I would always find that, when I wanted to go out, I wouldn't be able to find a bag that was unique. A statement piece that I could wear over and over again."
To create something personal to her, the designer created a 'Hello, my name is Kimberly' bag, which quickly caught the attention of passersby.
"That's when things started getting crazy," she laughs. "I made the Tayto bag for Saint Patrick's Day 2024, and people loved that bag. It went very well, and that's when I realised I wanted to do crazier bags. First was the Tayto bag, then the Guinness can bag, then the four-leaf clover. Now it's the Kerrygold bag."
Since a Brennan's bread bag was suggested to her by fans, Tino has undertaken a leather-making course so that she can play with different textures and designs.
"Between university and the two kids, it's a lot at times," she laughs, noting that each handbag can take weeks or even months to make, depending on the level of detail in the design.
"I put my love into it. Even the packaging, it's crazy how far everything has come. I really wanted something luxurious, so you have the whole experience of opening a beautiful box, some satin inside, a matching dust-bag - I want it to be an experience."
Applying each crystal with a pair of tweezers, the Kerrygold bag, in particular, is time-consuming to make thanks to the intricate details, but Tino says the product felt like the perfect choice.
Born in Zimbabwe and raised in Meath, she says that her creations have been inspired by childhood memories of enjoying Tayto and Kerrygold butter on a demi-baguette after school.
"That and a cup of tea," she smiles. "That was our Friday treat."
The bag has been a hit on social media, with well-known faces like Jazzy, Louise McSharry and Davina Devine praising the creation. The butter brand themselves gave the design their seal of approval, writing: "Obsessed would be an understatement".
"Honestly, it's still a bit surreal for me," she muses. "I'm just sitting in the kitchen right now with a bucket of laundry that I need to deal with, and a Kerrygold bag that thousands of people have fallen in love with. It's gone so viral, I can't even fathom how well it's done."
"For me, at the end of the day, it's about people loving something that you thought of and materialised. I feel really grateful when someone makes an order that they trust my creative sensibilities."
