The Stillness That Speaks: Ethical Taxidermy as Decor
By: The Lace Ledger Staff
A guide to honouring creatures through mindful craft and gothic interiors
Photo Credit: BEAST Interiors
There’s a quiet reverence in the gaze of a glass-eyed fox.
It’s not horror that draws us to taxidermy—it’s memory. Mystery. A love letter to mortality rendered in bone, fur and shadow.
In the wrong hands, it's a spectacle. But in the right home? It’s sanctum. Sacred. A curated echo of wild beauty held still, not silenced.
What Is Ethical Taxidermy?
Ethical taxidermy honours life through death.
Photo Credit: @clevelandcuriosities
This means:
No animals are killed for display.
Creatures are ethically sourced (natural causes, roadkill salvage, donated remains, antique curiosity).
Artists work with respect, transparency and, often, spiritual intention.
The intention is to preserve.
Death is not grotesque. It is a language. One we’ve long been fluent in.
It marches into the parlour an inevitability that many seek to avoid, transforming, in body, a creature with the purpose of creating beauty from sadness and loss.
Why Do People Incorporate Taxidermy in Their Space?
Photo Credit: BEAST Interiors
Because gothic interiors are not just aesthetics—they are altars. And taxidermy can serve as:
Ancestral Symbolism – A crow in flight, frozen mid-air, becomes a metaphor. For grief. For grace. For the parts of us that still take wing in memory.
Nature’s Talisman – A small woodland creature on a black marble shelf evokes forest magic. A reclaimed antler on your wall, a touch of primal elegance.
Conversation Piece – One that isn’t shocking, but soulful. It invites questions of legacy, ethics, reverence and the beauty of the in-between.
Curating Your Curiosity Cabinet: Tips for Gothic Grace
Photo Credit: @soulperchers
Here’s how to tastefully incorporate ethical taxidermy into your home without veering into macabre-for-macabre’s-sake:
Start Small
A delicate display under a bell jar. A shadow box with butterfly wings. A mouse curled into sleep on black velvet.Contrast with Softness
Pair a preserved skull with a reclaimed vintage chaise. Feathers beside candlelight. Place your piece on shelves near dried florals or antique books.Use Symbolic Placement
A fox near your writing desk to invoke clever writing. A raven near your mirror for prophecy. Let them guard your rituals.Mix with Modern Elegance
Set against dark wood and minimalist lines, taxidermy becomes an accent—mysterious and chic, not cluttered or kitsch. This is a relic to be revered, not hoarded in packs.Source with Integrity
Support artisans who practice transparency and compassion. Etsy, gothic maker collectives and reputable natural history dealers are great places to begin. Soul Perchers, for example, in the USA, is a sterling example of ethically sourced and exquisitely artful taxidermy. Oddity Asylum, based in Australia and shipping worldwide, also does a beautiful job creating gallery-worthy art from ethically sourced specimens.
In a world that rushes from death, this is your quiet defiance. To decorate with stillness. To hold what once moved. To say: I do not fear the dark—I design with it.
Let it tell a story.
