First specimen on the shelf

Aviary is a love letter to the golden age of naturalist illustration — the era when identifying a bird meant sitting very still with a pencil for an afternoon. Each print takes a single specimen and gives it the full treatment: hand-coloured tones, the soft paper feel of an antique field guide, and enough detail in the plumage that you can tell what you are looking at from across the room. The shop opens with the Great Horned Owl, because if you are going to start a collection of birds you may as well start with the one that stares back. More specimens are in progress — hummingbirds, herons, the small brown ones that deserve the same care as the dramatic ones. Everything is printed to order. One feather at a time.