Get Stuffed

Recently I wanted a skull to draw
but not sure which one, I called
Robert to make an appointment
to view. The shop is deceptively
large, but every corner is filled with
a creature of some kind. The process
of embalming & stuffing is done in
his country workshop in Hertfordshire
& brought up to town by van.
If you want to view you must call
the morning of the day of your visit.
I must say I am not keen on the stuffed
variety, it brings home how vital the
life force is, to see these lively critturs
in suspended animation here.

This place takes the art of stuffing a dead animal to a whole new level — it is possibly the best window shopping a person can do.
My two friends, Mark S. and Lucien H.D., used to always tell me about this taxidermist they would always stumbled upon while out drinking on Upper Street/​Essex Road and the people they would meet who were also staring at the animals through the window.
Last week, Mark S. finally took me to «the taxidermist» to show me what it was all about and now I am educated.
From a lion, to a moose, to giant elks & zebras, to a baby penguin.
I honestly want to know what type of person knows the right people to get him a dead baby penguin so that he may stuff it and stand it up like-​like in the window for people to gawk at. That is a serious dead animal hookup.
Anyways — you have to make an appointment to go in the store but honestly it is just as entertaining window shopping with the rest of the people who walk out of the pubs and are intrigued by a stuffed African Safari staring them in the face right smack in the middle of the N1.

Of course I would love this store.

I came across get stuffed when I was looking for some peacocks for a display, as they are the main taxidermy company in London they are grossly over priced so that time I ended up sourcing them outside London for half the price.
The store itself is quite surreal though, located in North London not to far away from Angel tube station you need to make an appointment if you want to view anything in the sore as the owner is busy stuffing animals in his studio usually,

Imagine this, just pure sheer taxidermy. Now, I’m not a fan of animal death, I really like animals. But there’s something, and I won’t say beautiful, but strangely moving about seeing all these animals, hung and posed in all manner of ways and styles.
There’s a lot of animals. A lot to look at. And you can’t just go in off the street, you need to book. But that’s ok, you can see a lot of this stuff from the street. So, it’s really quite an interesting window-​shop, definitely worth a peek!

The first thing to mention about Get Stuffed is that you can’t actually go in, you have to book a viewing with the owners. Presumably this is because otherwise you’d get idiots like me gawping with their cameras.
The next thing to mention is that you don’t need to actually go inside to get a good gawp!
So, this is basically a taxidermist heaven, they have the most impressive window display in the world (Harrods Christmas window be ashamed!). Bears, tigers, rats, bats, cats, pigs, hippos — no animal is spared.
I remember the first time i was alerted to Get Stuffed, I’d lived in London for three years and had passed by without even noticing.
All i can say is walk past, have a look, you’ll be stood there mouth agape for hours.
A flipping hippos head! Amazing.

Is it naughty to review a shop you’ve never actually entered? Oh well, at least I’m honest!
This is a taxidermist, in case you hadn’t realised. According to the notices on the doors it only opens by appointment and they have a workshop elsewhere. The windows are full of an array of glass cases and stuffed animals. Perhaps a little gruesome However they do have a notice to say that none of the animals in the window died to be stuffed. They come from zoos or wildlife rescue organisations and provided some income for those organisations.
I’ve never really been in a position to want something stuffed. When my cat died the idea went through my brain and out again in about a hundredth of a second I’m sure the result wouldn’t have looked like her, and if it had it would have been creepy! However, should I ever find myself requiring the services of a taxidermist I think I’d try here. The work in the window does look pretty good!
Apparently they can stuff your own stuff, or provide stuff pre-​stuffed. You can even get stuff without skins (skeletons in other words).