Natural Curiosity: Inside Esoterica's World of Specimens & Storytelling

Esoterica founder Sofia reflects on how a childhood spent collecting the natural world became a lifelong devotion to preserving its beauty

By: The Lace Ledger Staff

It starts earlier than we think. Perhaps it's a feather discovered on a morning walk or a mushroom tucked beneath fallen leaves. Or, maybe it's a smooth stone slipped into a coat pocket simply because it was too interesting to leave behind. Long before those moments become collections, career paths or carefully curated spaces, they begin as simple curiosity.

For Esoterica co-founder Sofia, that curiosity first took shape alongside her grandmother in the forests of Russia, where afternoons were spent outside in nature, learning about flora, fauna and the personality of places. Years later, those early lessons found a new home in New Hope, Pennsylvania where Esoterica invites visitors to rediscover the same sense of wonder that first inspired its founders to begin collecting.

In our conversation, Sofia reflects on how childhood curiosity became a shop devoted to preserving the natural world.