Birds - scientific name Aves

The notion behind this collection is that of our own Glittering Wings. ​

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Each piece is inspired by the shape, symbolism, motion, colouring etc of a different bird and by a style of shoe from one of the decades between the 1720's and the 2020's.

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The quote above proves that English shoes once had beaks. Winged sandals on the other hand, (the Talaria of Mercury) are a symbol of the Greek messenger god Hermes. They were said to be made of imperishable gold and capable of flying the god as swiftly as any bird. The Latin noun tālāria signifies "of the ankle” and arguably became linked with the image of the Roman sandal, with ties that bind around the ankle. Such sandals are first mentioned in the Homeric hymn to Hermes from 520 B.C. It states that they allowed him to leave no footprints. One estimate suggests that by about the 5th century B. C. winged sandals had come to be regarded as common accoutrements of the gods, allowing them to play the role of the psychopomp or "soul guide," the conductor of souls into the afterlife, by proffering quick movement between the worlds of the mortal and the divine.

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It is certain that since earliest recorded history, humans have shared a nearly universal desire for the freedom offered by flight and have therefore looked to the design of the wings of birds in order to replicate their ability to fly. We wish our feet might for a moment float above the earth rather than necessarily stepping so heavily upon it.​ The idea that we should walk a mile in someone else’s shoes before judging them, is all about developing empathy. There is surely an added piquancy to imagining walking a mile in the shoes of someone from history; thereby sharing not only in their personal experiences but in a different period in time.​ 

 

Likewise birds have been attributed human characteristics (the preening peacock, the playful finch, the scheming vulture, the clever crow) and also humans names. During the 15th century, the English developed the practise of making birds personable companions by giving each it's own common name.  On a walk you might meet Will Wagtail, see Philip Sparrow or watch Tom Tit fly by. Polly Parrot is one we still use today, likewise Jenny Wren but who knows now that the Magpie once bore the simple name “pie” (probably from its Roman name, “pica”) and the English then named them Margaret, which got abbreviated to Maggie, eventually leaving us with Mag Pie. The vocal, crow-like bird called Jackdaw was once just a daw but then got named Jack. The first recorded Anglo-Saxon name for the Eurasian Robin was ruddoc ('little red one'). By the medieval period, its name evolved to redbreast and the English chose the satisfyingly alliterative companion name of Robert. This as changed to the popular Tudor nickname Robin and the Redbreast part was eventually dropped because it seemed so redundant.

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​ ​And of the portrayal of birds in fine art there is likewise a long history. Gothic, Early Renaissance and High Renaissance painters, for example, made birds an important part of their rich philosophical, religious, visual symbolism. Symbolism that was understood in a culture of restricted literacy. The early Christian theologian Origen Adamantius stated: "If all things were made through Him, clearly so must the splendid revelations have been which were made to the fathers and prophets, and became to them the symbols of the sacred mysteries of religion." With their ability to sore toward heaven on their glittering wings how could birds of every variety therefore not have featured heavily in painting.

click here to read more about birds in art history

click here for a few more birds by their first name

click here ​to see the aviary of inspiration created by The House of Embroidered Paper: Birds

There is only one of each design in this collection (the lost left shoe in each case); speaking to us of what we have forgotten from history as well as what survives​​

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