May 19 2025

A Force of Transcending Inspirations

A contemporary writer Nadeem Aslam’s phrase “pull a thread here and you’ll find it’s attached to the rest of the world” has inspired us to explore and pay tribute to myriads of impactful global contributions spanning millennia to shape the staple of human clothing – ornamented footwear. We are pulling the thread that uniquely and distinctly binds all decorative elements of soft leather shchiteqler to discover a continuum of captivating artefacts of material culture in the forms of vessels, stone carvings, organic fragments, paintings, photos, texts, cinematography…

Tall protective footwear enters EurAsian nomadic people’s life during the times of domestication of a horse around 3500 BCE (before common era). The first depictions of people wearing foot coverings appear between 9th and 7th centuries BCE during the time of Assyrian rule (nowadays the territories of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkiye). A leather boot from Pazyryk burials (Altai mountains, nowadays in Kazakhstan, Mongolia) of 4th-3d centuries BCE is the earliest example of impressive leather craftsmanship and spiritual significance embedded in ornamentation.

Roughly one millennium forward, in ~7th century CE (common era), the Volga Bulgars carry on the spirit and skills of nomadic predecessors to, eventually, become well-known for their processing of soft colored fragrant leather (reffered as bulgari, saffian, later as morrocco, russian). In 14-16th century, the descendants of Volga Bulgars (nowadays referred as Kazan /Idel-Ural /Volga Tatars of Rossiyan Federation) master Qaiely Kün’ ( referred in English as Tatar Leather Mosaic) technology to create exceptionally-decorated saffian boots –shchiteqler- a desired-by-many footwear.

Some 500 years later, in 2025, a boundaries-and-times-transcending look of a modern Tatar girl by @tatar.mosaics incorporates saffian shchiteqler by Sahtian with a SABR sweater featuring a painted version of the boots by Guzel Khaib, and Aigel Salakh leather bag, designed with the same Qaiely Kün technology as shchiteqler, both utilizing a so-called “Kazan” zhoye (stitch) that is featured in a recent eponymous documentary by Mira Rahmat and Bai Khairullin. The look is a synergy of millennium-long human ingenuity, innovation and craftsmanship. It could not be possible without impactful contributions of many creative agents that feed from wisdom of previous generations and impact the future connections.

There wouldn’t be a popular SABR Yaratu Collection sweater without all previous collaborations of human creativity. This sweater impressively empowers the modern wearers through signaling belonging or/and awe: it features two uniquely-Tatar cultural staples – shchiteqler and “mongly zhyr”(soulful poem/song) and offers a new, accessible way of “owning” a Tatar cultural icon. There wouldn’t be a talented Guzel Khaib’s famous painting without social virtual networks and the beloved Tatar song about a heart’s yearning for shared love “Shchygarsynmy Karshy Alyrga?Would you come to greet me?” (lyrics by Damir Garifullin, music by Valeriy Ahmetshin) originally performed in 1963 by legendary Tatar singer Ilham Shakirov. And so on…

We are grateful to all forces and links in the history that inspire creative spirit of modern artists. Reminded by Diana Darke’s “everything is a continuum – nothing just appears out of vacuum”, we promote a respectful and appreciative mindset: different, versatile, distinct people and cultures contribute and inspire the evolution of material heritage that is interconnected, and, thus, the most valuable!

Jul 23 2024

Symbolic Power of Footwear

When your dream comes true and you, finally, can “touch” (…well…stay in front of ) the 2300 years old organic exhibit – the leather boots of a noble Altai woman -, a sensible connection with the past starts pulsating through your veins. You can actually feel the rhythms and visualise the reality of those times through the impressively intricate and symbolic decorative handwork captured on the boots. They have been waiting for so many years to be appreciated, interpreted.

The worldview of early EurAsian steppe nomadic people of Turkic background (ancestors of Bulgar-Tatars) dwelled on a strong belief in procreation and progression of life as well as promotion of marriage and healthy offsprings. This core belief was protected by Tengri and Umai – the spiritual deities of well-being, wellness, family unit and woman health.

In artistic interpretation, the Bulgars-Tatars have been illustrating the code of wellbeing in the form of a stylised progression from the ground towards the sky. The creative way of showcasing this code was mastered in shchiteqler – a unique artistic form of Tatar people. A traditionally decorated shchiteq composition has four parts that corresponds to stages of human life: birth, growth, blossom, and afterlife. Each part is depicted through specific stylised symbolic elements that tell a story of the boot’s creator or owner.

Oct 17 2014

Exceptional boot is called shchiteq

When you google “boot”, tons of images of different boots come up: fancy, classy, ugly, modern, in all shapes and colors. But the boots that are created using unique leather mosaic technique do not… It can be because the boots, that this website is dedicated to, belong to a different category that embodies a unique collaboration of footwear and art.

shchiteqler made by Sahtian

This exceptional footwear category is shchiteq (kauly run shchigelgen iteq – full version). The word shchiteq (“shch” is pronounced as in “Chicago“ or “c” in “appreciate“) comes from the Tatar language word читек (with pronunciation as “щитэк”, Russified versions of “ичиг”, “ичитыг” are also in use) is an abbreviation of чигелгән итек (shchigelgen iteq). It literally means a “decorated/ embroidered boot”.

A shchiteq is made from soft colored leather and ornamented with the Tatar-inspired cutout designs that are stitched together by hands from the inside”. The technique is unique and sophisticated that no other ethnic people but the Tatars have mastered it over the centuries. Shchitekler (“ler” is for plural form in Tatar language) are popular in Tatarstan, Russia, and highly treasured by their owners because one can “conquer the world” in them. The word читек is googalabe. But shchiteq is not yet… It will be wonderful if the association of boot with shchiteq becomes recognizable, so acknowledgement and due credits are offered to the Tatar people who had originated and mastered the unique craft of Tatar Leather Mosaic and has been working hard for centuries to keep it alive.