The Wish Shop

Let’s go a little curio, just in time for Halloween!

If you have read the previous articles, Karou’s wishbone and Chimaera’s Hamsas, you will have learnt about Karou, Laini Taylor’s character from Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Karou happens to have the Chimaera Brimstone for a father figure.

This is the last set of pictures taken by Marco Vinagre in Waterloo in September.

Brimstone has a shop where he sells wishes in exchange for teeth. If you sense a bit of bone magic there, you might be right, but no more spoilers.

I am wearing a skull on my finger, it’s an old ring I bought years ago at H&M.

And more bones on this wonderful Banned backpack!

I’m also still wearing my 3D-printed wishbone, and haven’t snapped it yet. I still have my teeth so I must have acquired it another way! – thanks Ben.

Inspired by Brimstone’s wish shop, I referenced a cabinet of curiosity with my shirt from Blackmilk clothing, that I call my shirt full of dead animals in jars.

Cabinets of curiosities were collections of, well, stuff, that their owners liked, prized and showcased, and were most often collections of natural history/taxidermy, antiques, etc.

Some very famous museums started as cabinets of curiosity, like the British Museum in London, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford as well.

I’ve visited them, and I’m hoping to write an article and publish some on Instagram even if they’re a bit old now…

In the meantime:

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The most incredible museum I have ever visited, the @pittriversmuseum. I could have spent a whole month there. There are infinite things to see and learn about. Founded in 1884, the collection of artifacts has grown to half a million! I love that objects are grouped according to how they were made or used, rather than by cultural origin or age. #archeology #anthropology 🔬🗿🏺🌎

A post shared by Marie-Joelle Parent (@mariejoelleparent) on Apr 28, 2018 at 3:41pm PDT

Another famous cabinet of curiosity is Deyrolle in Paris.

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🦇 #Deyrolle #46ruedubac #nature #art #education #bat #squelette #inspiration #cabinetofcuriosities #wunderkammer #cabinetdecuriosités #taxidermy #entomology #pedagogie #deco

A post shared by Deyrolle (@deyrolle.officiel) on Jul 12, 2018 at 3:45am PDT

It’s quite fascinating to visit and you can go for free.

Another one I would recommend in San Francisco is the Loved To Death taxidermist and shop.

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Heart Jar Octopus Specimen, Beautifully preserved Octopus specimen, in a heart shaped rubber cork stopper jar. Measures 5" tall x 5" wide.Unique addition to your curio cabinet! #lovedtodeath #sanfrancisco #haightstreet #haightashbury #octopus #wetspecimen #oddities #odditiesandcuriosities #sealife

A post shared by Loved To Death (@lovedtodeath) on Jul 16, 2018 at 4:49pm PDT

If you’re in London, the most amazing shop you must visit is the Hoxton Monster Supply Shop:

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Is this plant sentient? Shop here if you're a vampire, a werewolf, a zombie or a human. . . . #ilovelondon #london #unusual #unusuallondon #monstersupplies #hoxton #hoxtonmonstersupplies #monster #monsters #vampires #eastlondon #londonshops #londonshopping #londonshop #beautifulshop #beautifulshops #greengrass #plants #plantsofinstagram #pixel2 #teampixel2 #teampixel #candyshop #hello_london #gothshop #gothshopping #werewolves

A post shared by Céline Boudier (@lyraophelia) on Aug 11, 2018 at 9:29am PDT

Disclaimer: I volunteer at the Ministry of Stories, a charity in Hoxton dedicated to inspiring children with creative writing workshops. The shop is a way to fund the charity.

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We might look lovely on the outside… Let us remind all our human customers that you shop here at your own risk – we can't be held responsible for any misfortune that comes of it. If you like living on the edge, please do visit with your mini humans this half term. #MonstersGuidetoLondon #MonsterRecipes #UnusualGifts #VisitLondon #Daysoutwiththekids #Febhalfterm2018 #Notonthehighstreet #Vampire #Zombies

A post shared by Hoxton Street Monster Supplies (@monstersupplies) on Feb 8, 2018 at 12:08pm PST

It has a lot of food and supplies for monsters of all kind (and humans as well) so I strongly recommend going there – and if you can, volunteering there.

I would love to have a photo shoot there or in a natural history museum…

If you’d rather travel to your sofa for Halloween, then I recommend Penny Dreadful for that Victorian Cabinet of Curiosity feel – there are taxidermy scenes, Egyptian antiques and a Natural History Museum!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BE_fFasSsgD/?hl=en&taken-by=pennydreadful

Interestingly, collecting all these instagram posts and personal interests, like on Pinterest, starts to look like a cloud based Cabinet of Wonder.

Several internet bloggers describe their sites as a wunderkammern either because they are primarily made up of links to things that are interesting, or because they inspire wonder in a similar manner to the original wunderkammern […]. The researcher Robert Gehl describes such internet video sites as YouTube as modern-day wunderkammern, although in danger of being refined into capitalist institutions “just as professionalized curators refined Wunderkammers into the modern museum in the 18th century.

Wikipedia, source: Gehl, Robert W. (2009). “Youtube As Archive: Who Will Curate This Digital Wunderkammer?”

That was 2009 innit…

Anyway I hope you liked this meta-collection and the photos by Marco!