Animal instinct and curiosities of human nature

Us humans have a strange affinity with animals – on the one hand we keep them as pets, but on the other, we eat them. Still, we like to think of animals as our friends - after all, they are our distant relatives – and this is increasingly evident in our treatment of all creatures great and small, especially in design art and home furnishings.






Along with our recreations of wild beasts in wood, clay and papier mache, come those in cotton and wool – yes, animal inspired clothing and accessories are appearing everywhere too.











An even more curious trend is our growing desire to share our homes with dead animals in the form of vintage taxidermy.











If you’re a little squeamish, you may prefer something a little less realistic, like this curiously collectable Japanese style, blue-glazed, retro ceramic monkey family from ShopCurious (below).








Alternatively, you may wish to feast your eyes on the fine collection of stuffed animals at the Musee de la Chasse et de la Nature in Paris, reviewed in my post today at The Dabbler.










Do you?

Birds of a feather flock to LFW

Designers at London Fashion Week no longer seem desperate to shock. Obscurely arty fashion statements are gradually being eclipsed by timelessly wearable clothing and accessories. However, if Lady Gaga is one of your clients, I suppose it's advisable to err on the side of eccentricity - like Charlie le Mindu, who’s responsible for the curious mannequin creation gracing the alternative, On/Off show space.












Meantime, at Somerset House yesterday, I shared a bird-watching hut with the British Fashion Council’s lovely Marits Roberts. We did a bit of twitching together, admiring Orla Kiely’s charming showcase, complete with trees, taxidermy and books on British birds. Marits - who by the way, has the most beautiful voice - kindly informed me that the Turtle Dove has recently been seen in the UK, for the first time in years.










































I spotted quite few avian inspired accessories at the exhibition, along with the influence of other native animals, like the fox - as featured on the Mulberrry sponsored canvas bag - and the squirrel (this is beginning to sound like the name of a pub).

There were also plenty of friendly faces, like Desiree Mejer of Fake London, whose uniquely English designs are available at ShopCurious.

What I didn’t find were freaky fashions, or the media circus I’d expected... But you can read more about those sort of things in today's post on my weekly style column over at The Dabbler.

Will you?

The fashion for all things freaky

No matter whether it’s Halloween, have you noticed the tendency for artists, musicians and designers to want to shock their audiences?

A couple of months ago, Alice Cooper held a macabre evening of horror at the London Dungeon to choose freakish acts for his Halloween Night of Fear shows at the Roundhouse in Camden. The winners included a very unique ballet routine, where the dancer stuck needle-mounted feathers into her arms. Another winner was a cabaret style performer, who hammered a nail up her nose and put hooks with weights attached though her eyelids.

A further winner went one better – and used a drill to bore through his nose. Then there was a man who lifted barrels of beer using hooks through his arms, who also put his tongue in a mouse trap.

On the art and design scene, we’re continuing to see all manner of morbid fashion accessories and weird taxidermy, like Alex Randall’s Rat Swarm Lamp (as shown above).


The current focus on our mortality is fueling an obsession with death and disease. Medical curiosities, anatomical models, pickled body parts and freakish pathology inspired installations are increasingly being incorporated into the work of emerging artists and designers.

With this in mind, we thought we’d tempt you with our own freak of nature – a dicephalic, two headed teddy bear called Ted and Eddy that’s now available at ShopCurious, courtesy of our most curious friend Viktor Wynd and his Little Shop of Horrors. Just the thing to cuddle up to in bed.

Hope you don't get nightmares?

Do you?