things that fly
From a cabinet of near-forgotten drawers and unpublished field notes comes a curated archive of winged specimens—delicately imagined, scientifically presented, and suspended in modern acrylic.
Fly Design offers a collection of dragonflies, butterflies, and bees rendered in the style of natural history field work. Each piece is a study in stillness—an observation extracted from a parallel ecology where species names, collection sites, and fragile ecosystems are as poetic as they are precise. Though these specimens are unverified by modern science, their documentation is meticulous. Latin names, collector coordinates, and discovery dates accompany each print, lending them the credibility of a preserved truth—and the mystery of something almost lost.
Specimen No. 14
Caudoluma aureoflamma
Common Name: “The Flame-Tipped Ribbon”
Collected: 1883, Floating Reeds Preserve, Caldas District, Colombia
By: Inez Maranta, botanical illustrator and independent field researcher
Specimen No. 7
Name: Golden Skimmer | Orphelia lucens minor
Collected by: Rev. Thaddeus Brim, parish librarian, field taxonomist, and amateur botanist
Date of Discovery: 30 July 1869
Locality: Lower fringe of the East Fork, near Clatworthy Mill, Somerset, England
Catalog No. FD - 18 - 07
Specimen No. 41
Name: Golden-backed Woodland Bumblebee | Bombus florentis aureatus
Observer: Eugenia Lyle
Date of Discovery: 1887
Locality: The Beresford Arboretum, South Warwickshire, England
Catalog No. FD - 20 - 41
Specimen No. 37
Name: The Sleep Glider | Zygoptera lucivaga
Collected By: Sister Emilienne du Lune, hospice nurse and amateur entonologist
Date of Discovery: 1891
Locality: Capel gardens of Saint-Auréle-sur-Mer, Brittany, France
Catalog No. FD - 20 - 37
Specimen No. 54
Name: The Coreopsis Glasswing or Blue-Paned Coreopsis Glasswing | Aeshnura vitraflora
Discovered By: Dr. Lisette Harrow
Date of Discovery: 12 September 1889
Locality: Serra do Segredo Basin, Brazil
Catalog No. FD - 25 - 54
Specimen No. 133
Name: Alpine Tile Dancer | Callothemis vitrivaga borealis
Collected By: Hjörleif M. Sørensen
Date of Collection: 22 July 1956
Locality: Kerlingarfjöll geothermal shelf, Icelandic Highlands
Catalog No. FD - 07 - 133
Specimen No. 39
Name: Sovereign Pyra | Danaus regalis pyraarchon
Discovered by: Dr. Clémentine Bourdier
Date of Discovery: 9 November 1911
Locality: Northern edge of Lake Como, between Villa Pliniana and Torno, Lombardy, Italy (elevation: 208 m)
Catalog No. FD - 21 - 39
Specimen No. 144
Name: Copperbelly Glider | Viridovenator ignifex
Collected by: Dr. Eleora Nix, Department of Comparative Morphology, University of Melbourne
Date of First Documentation: 11 August 1902
Locality: Lower Tambo Wetlands, East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia
Catalog No. FD - 04 - 144
Specimen No. 84
Name: The Ember Monarch | Danaus aurantiacus flammeus
Collected by: Dr. Maren Llewellyn
Date of Discovery: 1883
Locality: Arroyo de las Rosas, Sonoran Plateau, Northern Mexico
Catalog No. FD - 22 - 042
Specimen No. 336
Hagenius brevistylorum | The Blue Atlantic Dragonhunter
Location Discovered: Blackwater Basin, Southern Quebec
Collected by: Prof. E. G. Lorne, August 17, 1902
Specimen No. 143
Name: Indigo Skimmer Dragonfly | Orthetrum caerulonotus flammeus
Observer: Dr. Marcus T. Loxley, Royal Society of Ornithology
Field Observation: 5 June 1873
Locality: Ballaglass Glen, Isle of Man
Catalog No. FD - 19 - 143
Specimen No. 062
Common Name: The Chapel Winged Darner | Vitrellia sancta bermudensis
Discovered by: Imogen Vire, stained-glass restorer and naturalist of minor repute
Date of Observation: 12 November 1891
Locality: Bermuda – walled garden ruins, Mount Langton Estate
Catalog No. FD - 99 - 062
Specimen No. 68 (A Tribute to Shel Silverstein)
Name: The Crooked-Legg Snapwing | Spindulata petalpilus
Observer: Miss Clementine Drawn, amateur botanist and licorice enthusiast
Discovery Date: 4 July 1907
Location: Under the chalky cliff at Tattermoor Bend
Catalog No. FD - 22 - 68
Specimen No. 731
Name: The Green-Hour Lacelet | Aetheroptura delicata viridora
Observed by: Elsbeth Carmody, amateur entomologist and moss-gardener
Date of Collection: 3 May 1919
Locality: Reedmarsh Bluffs, Camas, Washington
Catalog No. FD - 19 - 731
Specimen No. 37
Name: Blue Skimmer Dragonfly | Orcadella glaesina
Discovered by: Þóra Margrét Jónsdóttir
Date of Discovery: 18 June 1952
Locality: Viðey Island, Faxaflói Bay, Iceland
Catalog No. FD - 08 - 37
Specimen No. 79
Name: The White River Jewelwing | Calopteryx alboripae
Observer: Miss Eleanor Forsythe, Naturalist-in-Residence, Royal Society of North America
Discovered: 12 August 1814
Locality: East bank of the White River, Mt. Rainier, Washington Territory
Catalog No. FD - 17 - 79
Specimen No. 226
Name: Delft Bluet Dragonfly | Libellula delftensis
Observer: Dr. Algernon T. Hartwell
Date of Discovery: Approx. July-August 1847
Locality: Estate of Lord Pemberton; the Cotswolds, South West England, 51º 48’N 2º 2’W
Catalog No. FD - 25 - 226
Specimen No. 50
Catalog No. FD - 23 - 50
Common Name: Rainbow Bluet Dragonfly
Scientific Name: Enallagma aetheronatum
Order: Odonata
Discovered by: Aurelio Saint-Mars, botanical cartographer and aerial surveyor
Date of Collection: 3 February 1909
Locality: Cloud Basin Ridge, Sierra del Oro, Ecuador
Specimen No. 77
Name: The Firefruit Prophet | Chromalara nova-provincialis
Discovered by: Marsden Reeve (b. 1960 – d. ?)
Date of Discovery: 17 July 1987
Locality: Backshore Flats, Provincetown, Massachusetts
Catalog No. FD - 23 - 77
Specimen No. 42
Name: The Alpine Emberveil | Danaus aurantivestis leysinica
Discovered by: Dr. Ottilie Vernet – Swiss-born entomologist with an eye for mountain microclimates
Date of Collection: 14 August 1953
Location: Leysin, Vaud, Switzerland – Southern-facing slope below Tour d’Aï
Catalog No. FD - 24 - 39
Specimen No. 87
Name: Prism-Wing Skimmer | Calopteryx vitreata
Discovered by: Dr. Horace Bellamy
Date of Discovery: 14 August 1932
Locality: Isles of Shoals, Gulf of Maine, USA
Catalog No. FD - 23 - 87
Specimen No: 51
Name: The Verdigris Needle | Tasmaneura chloromela canebrakae
Discovered By: Haruto Okada, Tasmanian Field Survey (Japanese–Australian joint botanical exchange)
Date of Discovery: 17 January 1934
Locality: Upper Florentine Valley, Tasmania
Catalog No. FD - 17 - 51
Specimen No. 137
Name: The Rosy Lacewing of Zelenograd | Libellula rosaphasma
Discovered By: Professor A. Otis Larkin
Date of Discovery: 12 July 1912
Locality: Zelenograd Marsh, Eastern Carpathians, Russia
Catalog No. FD - 24 - 137
Specimen No. 7
The Bláfjall Spanglewing | Caelopyris glacialis tesselata
Collected by the Hólar-Washington Summer Survey Team
Collected: 14 August 1998
Locality: Viðey Island, Iceland
Catalog No. FD - 20 - 7
Specimen No. 50
Catalog No. FD - 23 - 50
Common Name: Rainbow Bluet Dragonfly
Scientific Name: Enallagma aetheronatum
Order: Odonata
Discovered by: Aurelio Saint-Mars, botanical cartographer and aerial surveyor
Date of Collection: 3 February 1909
Locality: Cloud Basin Ridge, Sierra del Oro, Ecuador
Specimen No. 61
Name: The Bedside Lanternfly | Somnopteris vigilis nocturna
Collected By: Junia Belle, attic naturalist and domestic archivist
Date of Discovery: 14 October 1912
Locality: Third-floor nursery eave, Dinglewood Hall, Shropshire, England
Catalog No. FD - 23 - 61