Fur hooves: unusual shoes by Iris Schniferstein

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

German taxidermist Iris Schniferstein gives a second life to dead animals by creating unusual shoes - glamorous hooves. Domestic youth theaters, in the repertoire of which there are fairy tales like "The Wolf and the Seven Kids" or "Goats-Dereza", if they wish, can provide the actresses with the leading roles with original footwear. But seriously, the designer's work is a reflection on life and death, on how a person gets clothes and food at the expense of his smaller brothers.

Iris Schieferstein began experimenting with animal remains 20 years ago. The procedure for "revitalization" begins with immersion in a special liquid: the animal seems to return to the mother's womb in order to be reborn later, but in a new quality. The methods used by Iris Schniferstein have been known for hundreds of years; she herself traces her experiments to the experience of the ancient Egyptians and Greeks.

The works of Iris Schniferstein often shock people with a gentle psyche and subtle mental organization. But the designer reminds us that our usual shoes and boots are made of almost the same materials as the unusual footwear with hooves, causing rumors. What can we say about meat, which is often eaten by even the most spiritually rich conservationists.

Iris Schniferstein herself does not believe that one can faint from her collection. Work in a slaughterhouse can shock, but art never, says the designer. Her works make one think about life and death, about the price at which people get clothes and food. At the same time, the craftswoman herself does not kill animals for the sake of art: there are already too many deaths around.

When Iris Schniferstein was just beginning her experiments (and in the arsenal of the craftswoman it is far from only shoes made of hooves), she picked up dead animals right on the street, just like the Englishwoman Jess Eaton, the author of unusual outfits and jewelry. But what is good for an Englishman is forbidden for a German.

It turned out that these animals are protected by the German government, and Iris Schniferstein, without knowing it, encroached on state property for 15 years. When the story surfaced, the taxidermist almost ended up in jail (by the way, for the appropriation of animal corpses, even for artistic purposes, in Germany, you can thunder for 6 years). But everything ended well, otherwise we would not have seen unusual shoes made of hooves and weapons.