With plaster antlers and synthetic animal hide adorning eco homes everywhere, why not faux taxidermy? If you like the rustic look but aren’t feeling a real head on your wall, the faux mount may be right up your alley.

You know taxidermy, the art of mounting stuffed animal heads on a wall. Yes, it is an art. Not for everyone and many may even feel it’s a little creepy. But as the daughter of a talented and ethical taxidermist I can tell you, however you feel about it, there are those who are good at taxidermy and those who are … well … not.

There is the straightforward, hunter-esque sort of taxidermy. There is a bit edgier side to taxidermy, as well. Something for everyone?

Maybe.

If you are a home décor fanatic, you may be attracted to certain trends that are less than eco. Antlers, hides and skins are a big deal right now in interiors. They look cool. But do you feel okay about having animal parts tossed (however tastefully) around your home?

There is salvation for those of us looking to get in on the latest without the an-animal-lost-his-life guilt. Sub in plaster or ceramic antlers for the real thing. I love my fake sheepskin throws. You can even buy authentic looking faux animal hides to use as rugs.

Now for that head you’ve been longing to hang on your den wall? Enter, faux taxidermy. “Animal heads” made from metal, cardboard, wood, fiberglass…you kind of have options, here.

Ok, so most of us are not exactly lusting after a wall mounted head, faux or not. Safe to say, it is most likely something we can live without. And like traditional taxidermy, there is both good and weird stuff out there.

Now take a look at Mbare’s Recycled Metal Wall Art. These pieces are not only pretty and super unique, but made in Zimbabwe from recycled car tin.

One of a kind wildebeest, kudu, or springbok to adorn your living room? Pretty cool. Daniel, the man who makes these works of art, learned the craft from his father and now supports his own family with the business. Each piece sells for $58.

Has your idea of taxidermy changed? Can you see yourself purchasing a piece of faux taxidermy? A colorful water buffalo would look mighty nice sidled up against your artificial zebra print rug.

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Images from Mbare.com

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The new antiquarian tends to live in a world of mystical, sometimes macabre, always evocative objects from times long past.

This year saw the continued proliferation of the new antiquarian, a special breed of inquisitive human characterized by intense nostalgia, an appreciation for simple pleasures, and a preference for taxidermied animals. The new antiquarian reads Victorian literature while sipping on cocktails with bitters. The new antiquarian would never click through a Timeline to recall memories when there are precious keepsake boxes on hand for that task.

From the coffers of 2011, a review of some of the coverage that best exemplifies this aesthetic.

Anatomically correct décor

The design world’s love affair with sourcing inspiration from the mechanics of the human body was in full swing this year, as demonstrated by Scott Campbell’s upholstered armchair.

Strange taxidermy

Enrique Gomez de Molina is reinventing taxidermy as a surrealist art, mashing up insects, birds, animals, and found objects into quirky one-of-a-kind pieces.

Keepsake Boxes

Mementos deserve homes as precious as the memories they preserve. WE-ARE-FAMILIA has engaged cross-disciplinary artists from around the world to contribute found mementos to one-of-a-kind Keepsake Boxes that sell for up to $10,000.

Animal Farm glasses

Some glassware is definitely more equal than others, like these Orwell-inspired tumblers hand-sketched on glass from recycled wine bottles.

Typewriters

There’s nothing like the clickety tap tap of a vintage typewriter to make one feel like a modern-day Hemingway. Donna Brady and Brandi Kowalski restore classic typewriters like the Remington, the Corona, and the Royal Standard at their Brooklyn studio.

Antique sitting chairs

This 19th-century French sitting chair, made entirely of tree branches, is just one of many lustable antique objects available at Obsolete in Venice, California.

The good china

This hand-painted collection of bone china from New Orleans artist Shelley Hesse for Anthropologie is fit for formal dinners. You could even get away with using them year-round.

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Is taxidermy too macabre for home decor?

Taxidermy, a Greek word meaning skin arranging, is something one might associate with cat obsessives or hunter-types that rely on hoofs and antlers to mount their egos. The collection of artistic taxidermy meanwhile, which was traditionally a rather Victorian pursuit, has given the practice a new pelt of cool thanks to antiquarians with a new vintage aesthetic and Lower East Side kids with a flair for the macabre.

My first run-in with a stuffed rodent happened in the West Hollywood apartment of a friend of mine whom I’ve long considered a style clarion. She’s an eco-conscious vegetarian and animal rights activist, to boot, who stopped buying leather shoes back in the early 90’s. That got me thinking: perhaps taxidermy should be considered from an eco point of view.

I reached out to Connie Reeves, an artist, florist and taxidermist in the UK who refers to herself as a Road-kill Romantic on her Twitter profile, for some insight.

“You could call it a form of upcycling, sure. Reanimating old objects and giving them a new life,” she explains. Connie is one who considers trophy taxidermy, “something that’s done to prove ownership over an animal,” a bit on the grotesque and weird side. Like the artist Polly Morgan, who works exclusively with animals that died a natural or unpreventable death, Connie also crafts her subjects from road kill remains and donated pets. She has a whole freezer full of them. “Twenty or thirty,” at last count including a Sparrowhawk that’s been in there for over three years.

“I’m just going to keep him until I’m ready.” The hawk was given to her by a friend who was very close to the bird, thus giving him flight anew must be approached delicately.

Thawing now is Connie’s next project: a baby mobile featuring a deceased seagull she was given by some friends. “Birds are my main subject that I come back to again and again,” she says. “I’m so enchanted by them and their freedom.” Her partridge Eugene (pictured below), is a personal favorite. “He and I go back a long way. He was saved by the gentleman who taught me how to taxidermy.”

Decorating with taxidermy – using a bird here and a rabbit there – goes completely against the look at the moment. It’s the anti-minimalist, using a mish-mash of patterns and objects to undecorate and celebrating a potpourri of objects as discrete and unique talking points. Taking us back to, sustainable chic or completely eek? It’s certainly reused…definitely recycled. Whether you love it or are completely repulsed by the idea of using taxidermy as décor, it’s a topic that is sure to liven up any dinner party conversation. Just wait until after the main course to show off your latest piece.

Images: James Coughlin for Diamond Tooth Taxidermy and Connie Reeves

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It’s my annual winter visit home in L.A. and we’re braving the dreaded dead heads, again. Yes,  several of my family’s favorite restaurants are decorated – and disgraced – with massive, wild animal trophies on their walls. Trophies, indeed.

Now don’t get me wrong. My people aren’t hunters, just valley folks who like meat. My father’s side came from the meat packing industry in Nebraska. My sister-in-law’s kin founded Hoffy, the packagers of those hot dogs sold at the iconic Pink’s and plugged by singer Pat Boone. My relatives don’t mind seeing deer heads and bear skins tacked on a wall while enjoying a good rare steak. But my daughter does.

“It’s barbaric,” exclaimed 10-year-old, Lauren, with tears in her eyes, when confronted with the stuffed buffaloes, gophers and bucks mounted at Clearman’s Northwoods Inn in Covina.

Dining at the Inn has long been a post-Disneyland stop, starting with my parents when we four kids were little ranch hands. Cherie and Aaron really went in for the burgers, bowls of red cabbage and the mugs of beer, not to mention the buckets of peanuts and ever so folksy tradition of discarding the shells onto the redwood floor. Yes sir, kids, good clean American fun, except for those sad eyes on the stuffed heads with antlers.

The prized kill passes for nostalgic western memorabilia. And it is shocking for a sensitized child to encounter the animal trophies of yore, which emerge as the anti-green in their eyes. It’s especially jarring for Lauren after spending the day at the “happiest place on Earth“, a theme park peopled with woodland critters personified as our pals.

Try to explain to a child why trophies remain on our walls at a time when we shun fur coats and animal testing, a time when global campaigns are waged to protect our defenseless forest friends.

“This restaurant is very old, like from the 60s, and they hung the trophies because it didn’t upset people back then,” I assure my girl,  hoping she will settle down and agree to eat dinner with us. When she was younger I lied to her, telling her the animal heads at the Inn were fake, just like the taxidermy dioramas at the old San Francisco’s Academy of Science, just replicas of real animals. But now, I have to be honest and apologetic and coax her to remain inside the joint and enjoy her meal amid the walls of death. It’s getting more challenging.

I have to admit, I forget about the taxidermy at the Inn until I’m there and Lauren falls apart. I don’t think we will return next year. Really, the salad swimming in mayo and peanut shells on the floor aren’t worth the battle.

And yet, there are more miles to go on this annual trek before I rest.

My brother has made a dinner reservation at the Saddle Peak Lodge to celebrate my mother’s 82nd birthday. The upscale grill in Malibu Canyon is a favorite of the tony celebrities who live in my brother’s exclusive gated community of Hidden Hills, a ranch-filled paradise where multi-million dollar spreads are interspersed with horse trails and dog runs for its animal loving residents. I hear J-Lo just bought a large property there for just herself and the twins. Don’t tell the tabloids!

The problem is the Lodge they all love showcases numerous animal trophies on its walls, as well as exotic game on its overpriced menu. Holy antlers!

This time, I’m protesting. I have put up a stink about returning to the Lodge for yet another celebration; you’d be surprised how much convincing it has taken. Still, it looks like Lauren has won out this time. We will not be back in the Saddle Peak again, bypassing it for a new hip Hollywood spot, BLT Steak on the Sunset Strip with $40 entrees and $10 side dishes of mac and cheese, lobster mashed potatoes and poached green beans. The modern and stark eatery has no dead heads – just large prints and paintings of  various cows and bulls, a sort of homage to the fare you will be enjoying.

Ironic, isn’t it? Those who wouldn’t think of wearing a fox coat to dinner agree to linger over $52 New Zealand Elk Tenderloin amid the corpses. The roaring fire, the delicious wine, the tender elk, all can make you forget. Make you forget, that is, unless you happen to be a 10-year-old child of the eco age.

This is the latest installment in Luanne’s column, Life in the Green Lane.

Main Image: Fury Scaly

Northwoods Inn, Saddle Peak Lodge

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