Ashley Davies spends her days in a London workshop carving birds from blocks of wood. But these aren’t static sculptures left to gather dust. Turn a crank, and her creations flap, peck, or twist their heads as though alive. For collectors and casual viewers alike, the result stops you in your tracks.
Davies, who works under the name @madebirds, doesn’t describe herself as a sculptor or craftswoman. She prefers “Bird Mechanic.” The label fits. Every piece requires not only careful woodworking but also engineering. She builds hidden cam systems that translate simple turns into surprisingly fluid motion. Add layers of oil paint, fine detail, and an eye for the quirks of wildlife, and the outcome feels less like decoration and more like conversation with a creature.
If you scroll through her Instagram, you’ll see how she shares not just finished automata but also the making process. Clips show knives shaping beaks, paintbrushes adding plumage, gears sliding into place. There are announcements for commissions, along with clear invitations for you to send her a message if you want your own mechanical bird. An Etsy shop link sits there too, offering a path into ownership.
Davies has built a reputation on birds common to the British landscape. Kingfishers, blackbirds, starlings, ducks—species you might see on an afternoon walk. But once reimagined in her workshop, each bird carries personality. One pecks at seed as a lever rises and falls. Another spreads its wings in rhythm. Each piece captures the way birds interact with the world around them. You don’t just see the species. You watch the behavior.
The roots of her practice are easy to trace. Davies loves birds. She also loves movement. And she has drawn inspiration from Victorian automata, those intricate toys and table pieces that fascinated audiences two centuries ago. But her approach is not stuck in nostalgia. She adds freshness through oil-painted detail and modern storytelling.
Evidence of her growing skill stretches back at least two years. Early Instagram posts from 2023 show a wood duck automaton, small enough to hold in your hand, yet already demonstrating the precision that defines her later work. By 2024, her following grew, and she even stepped outside the workshop to give live demonstrations. That December she shared that she had shown her methods publicly, a small but notable shift for an artist who usually worked alone behind the bench.
By 2025, her ideas took bold new forms. In June she presented “Secret Door Painting – Starlings,” a wall piece disguised as a painting until, with a hidden cue, birds within began to move. Months earlier she had shared a work-in-progress clip of a mechanical blackbird brooch—tiny enough to pin to clothing yet crafted with the same carpentered precision and kinetic flair. These brooches became sought-after. When she prepared her second series in July, she explained online that the majority had sold before launch. Scarcity added to the appeal and reinforced her credibility as a maker whose work travels quickly from workbench to waiting buyer.
She connects directly with her audience not just by selling, but by giving. In May she ran a giveaway. “Like, save, follow,” she instructed, and a winner would receive a custom-built automaton. This direct interaction encouraged followers to play a part in her progress and deepened the community around her work.
Her audience doesn’t stop on Instagram. TikTok brings similar motion studies to a wider pool, where likes and shares push her creations into feeds beyond her immediate following. There too, the moving images carry more impact than still photos could. Watching a blackbird’s beak jab or a starling’s wings beat makes clear the point: these are living sculptures in miniature.
On Etsy her presence is equally practical. Buyers praise clear communication, solid packing, and reliable shipping. Listings include both custom commissions and ready-made pieces. For those who want a slice of kinetic craft without a long queue, the shop offers access to the work at set prices.
What sets Davies apart is how directly she brings together art and mechanics. Plenty of wood carvers craft decorative birds. Plenty of clockmakers play with cams and gears. Few merge the two with such charm. In every piece, you see her hand in the carving, her eye in the painted feathers, her problem-solving in the hidden system of rods. And you see something else: humor, play, a sense that these automata exist to make you smile.
Looking forward, Davies has teased several projects still in development. Titles like “Moving Pictures” and “Boy in the Attic” hint at directions beyond small tabletop birds, possibly larger narrative pieces that blend visual art with concealed motion. Whether those emerge as single commissions or public showcases, her direction is clear. She isn’t standing still.
In today’s art world, much is digital, screen-based, and often fleeting. Davies takes the opposite approach. She slows viewers down. She invites you to turn a crank, watch, and wait. Instead of scrolling, you listen to wood creak and see feathers stir. That physical presence cannot be downloaded, and maybe that’s why her following grows so quickly.
Her success lies not in mass production but in scarcity and individuality. Each bird is different. Each one takes hours of attention. In exchange, the buyer receives an object that feels personal, built by a hand not a factory line.
For those curious, the path to her work is simple. You can reach out through her Instagram direct messages or browse her Etsy page. Be quick though. If recent history is a guide, available pieces rarely stay unsold for long.
Ashley Davies is more than a woodcarver. She is part engineer, part painter, part magician. She gives dead wood wings. And in a world flooded with disposable goods and automated feeds, she reminds you that even the simplest gesture—a crank turned by hand—still has power to enchant.
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