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cloissonne bee, dragonfly and butterfly napkin rings by Dransfield and Ross
our local inner-neighborhood living zoo! We loved discussing the dangers
of the snapping turtle, the huge owl's ominous eyes and the live-insect acquariums!
(Actually, my first job was working the register in the Nature Museum's Gift Shop!)
Currently I am reminded of these happy days via all of the natural images coming forth in the design world. Images based in Zoology (including taxidermy), Entomology and even Herpetology are making their way into current decoration. These pieces from John Derian (above) are my favorites! He is especially known for his decoupage trays and paperweights featuring antique engravings.
Nature always plays an integral part in design and decoration. In recent years we've seen an overabundance of zebra rugs (I still love them!) and Petrified tree stumps as side tables. Before that, it was coral....in every available form and manifestation (I still like coral too) along with seashells. More recently, birds have become an ever-present element in wallpaper, fabric, accessories and so on.
As an interior designer, I should probably be ashamed to admit that I do not own a copy of Albertus Seba's Cabinet of Natural Curiosities (ABOVE and BELOW) from Taschen! Hailed as "one of the 18th century's greatest natural history achievements and remains one of the most prized natural history books of all time," the book has been a wildly popular "coffee table must" in recent years and influential in design as well.
The book has been described by Taschen : "[Seba's] amazing, unprecedented collection of animals, plants and insects from all around the world gained international fame during his lifetime. In 1731, after decades of collecting, Seba commissioned illustrations of each and every specimen and arranged the publication of a four-volume catalog detailing his entire collection-from strange and exotic plants to snakes, frogs, crocodiles, shellfish, corals, insects, butterflies and more, as well as fantastic beasts, such as a hydra and a dragon."
I love this powder room by interior designer Steven Gambrel, who "papered the walls with reproductions of 18th century drawings of flora and fauna torn out of an art book." -Elle Decor June/July 2004 The green wainscotting and red lampshades especially set off the papered walls.
The Houston Chronicle recently published an article: "Papering Walls with Pages from the Past." It describes Steven Gambrel's (2004) Powder Room as spurring on a growing trend, and includes the use of Albertus Seba's Cabinet of Natural Curiosities from Taschen.
Every time I turn around these days, it seems I'm hearing about Deyrolle in Paris, France. I'll never forget my first trip there. It was the strangest "shop" I'd ever seen. Every square foot contained taxidermied animals -- from zebras and lions to birds and snakes. The walls were covered in glass cases containing preserved butterflies and framed prints of every living plant or animal! (Established in 1831, Deyrolle suffered a terrible fire in 2008. Fans came out of the woodwork to raise and donate funds for its refurbishment and it is now back in business and busier than ever!)
A longtime fixture of Parisian life, Deyrolle has taken on more of an international stage nowdays. I don't know if the increased interest is due to the fire of 2008, or to (as their site puts it) "those impassioned by nature, by collections of insects and seashells, taxidermied animals of all types, and instructional materials for teachers of the natural sciences." The stuff of Deyrolle and The Nature Museum are seeing a rise in sales as their wares appear in greater quantities throughout the design world.
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World of Interiors Magazine, December 2006
designed by Steven Sclaroff
And continuing on with taxidermy, note the squirrel (above)
from the Steven Sclaroff home, featured in Domino Magazine.
On Sclaroff's 1st Dibs' site, I discovered an audubon bird print,
and anotomical charts of leaves, birds, tapeworms, and hydra.
Manhattan apt of Jeffrey Bilhuber
If you don't want bug and butterfly collections on your wall,
how about a stuffed (taxidermied) peacock?
was designed by Kelly Wearstler with antique tortoise shells.
What an amazing collection and display!
I'd like to have a closer look...
BUT what is the basis for all of these buggy, slithering and skeletal images? A recent New York Times article entitled "The New Antiquarians" suggests that current interest in taxidermy, anatomical charts, entomology, may relate to the late 19th century Decadent movement.
Hollister Hovey, a shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn is somewhat of a
flagship store for this new trend. The article describes sought-after items as,
“Accoutrements of the turn-of-the-19th-century leisure class”… “the tiny domed vignettes the Victorians were so fond of (artful arrangements of taxidermied squirrels, for example, in twiggy settings)”…and “Taxidermy, osteological antiques like monkey skeletons and other Victoriana”
flagship store for this new trend. The article describes sought-after items as,
“Accoutrements of the turn-of-the-19th-century leisure class”… “the tiny domed vignettes the Victorians were so fond of (artful arrangements of taxidermied squirrels, for example, in twiggy settings)”…and “Taxidermy, osteological antiques like monkey skeletons and other Victoriana”
Ryan Matthew recently opened Against Nature, a shop in nyc’s lower east side, whose name is based on the 1884 novel of the same name by Joris-Karl Huysmans. Huysmans described his novel to Emile Zola as "a wild and gloomy fantasy." According to Wikipedia, Against Nature (À Rebours), the novel, “is mostly a catalogue of the tastes and inner life of Jean Des Esseintes, an eccentric, reclusive aesthete and antihero, who loathes 19th century bourgeois society and tries to retreat into an ideal artistic world of his own creation.”
Against Nature has been called "the original handbook of Decadence."
The Decadents were an anti-bourgeois society who preferred an idealized world of their own creation. This new design trend may be a reaction against the sleek modern lines of the last ten years or so. Others suggest the movement is based on a search for (items of) authenticity.
The Decadents were an anti-bourgeois society who preferred an idealized world of their own creation. This new design trend may be a reaction against the sleek modern lines of the last ten years or so. Others suggest the movement is based on a search for (items of) authenticity.
I found another description of this ‘movement’ fascinating: Valerie Steele, director of the Museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology, states: “It’s way more than anti-modernism, this sort of deep spelunking into the past,” she said. “It’s not aspirational and it’s not nostalgic. It’s a fantasy world that is almost entirely a visual collage. It’s a stitched-together, bricolage world, an alternative world.” She continues, “…collecting these old things, it’s like there is an aura attached to them. It’s not some prepackaged product being foisted on you by a big corporation." - New York Times
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