FEATHERWORK

Featherwork is an ancestral craft. It consists in sublimating feathers used for costume design, haute couture, and decorative projects. Even though this craft had flourished in the early 19^th century and in the 1980s, workshops has gradually disappeared. Today, there are very few craftspeople practising this know-how.

Featherwork

There has always been fascination for feathers. Depending on the bird’s race, feathers carry a strong symbolic charge. For example, in America, they were used to decorate the headdress of Sioux, symbol of their social rank. But they also have represented peace and were used in rites and celebrations.

In Occidental societies, feathers have represented wealth and power. Feather workers have produced pieces for both women and men to embellish their clothes or hats with ostrich, cock, peacock, goose, or vulture feathers. In the 19^th century, feather makers were to be found on every street corner. They made headdresses for high-society women and costumes for shows. At the beginning of the 20^th century, this craft reached its apogee, but has declined with changes in people’s habits, such as the arrival of women at work.

At that time, the enthusiasm for exotic feathers was so strong that many excesses began to appear in their collection and production. As a result, the Washington Convention, adopted in 1973, attempted to protect wild fauna and flora by prohibiting trade in them for future generations. Therefore, this strict code of ethics guides the featherworkers in their choice of materials. Today, they use feathers from food chain, which are then treated and dyed. The feather-maker patiently treat them for new types of projects such as decorative arts, interior design, scenography and even merchandising.

Julien Vermeulen

Julien Vermeulen learned and trained as a featherworker at the Lycée Octave Feuillet, the only school in Paris to offer a diploma in this craft. In his workshop, he works on pieces for decoration and haute couture houses, but also for private orders. Concerned about  the origin of his feathers and keen to be ethical and independent, he has set up a feather laboratory in his workshop, allowing him to control the entire production chain for his pieces.