moesgaard museum, de etnografiske samlinger, ethnography, collections, museum, aarhus, denmark, tuxen, shoes, iceland, leather

In Other Shoes – Icelandic leather shoes

April 20, 2015

Flag, Iceland, Knit, Leather, National colours, Shoes

These fine leather shoes were the very first pair in the impressive collection of shoes, consisting of more than 250 pairs of shoes gathered from all around the world by Danish zoologist Søren Ludvig Tuxen.

These particular shoes were sewed by Mrs. Björg Kravan, who lived at Mælifill, Iceland. (You should definitely do a quick google search on the location – it is stunning!)

Tuxen, who received the shoes as a gift from Mrs. Kravan on August 11th 1933, wrote in his notes that the shoes were made from green, hairless sheepskin, they were untanned and used indoors only. The soles were knitted and appear in the colours of the Icelandic flag. Red represents the fire produced by the many volcanos. White refers to the ice and snow. Blue is for the mountains in the distance.

// Emma Louise Pedersen