Evolution brings natural history to Soho
No other city on the planet offers the kind of street life New York does. Despite its cold and wet weather, life in New York happens outside. All of that foot traffic means that it's possible to make a living as a shop owner. As in a real life, honest-to-goodness merchant. New York city is full to over flowing with them and it's a real pleasure to walk into a non-chain retail establishment, see some cool stuff and learn a thing or two about the people whose livelihoods depend on that store.
Well on Friday afternoon I was on foot down Spring Street from Broadway to West Broadway and midway between Mercer and Greene Streets I stumbled upon what must be the best store I've ever observed in my existence.
A store window just like this show stopped me lifeless in my tracks.
I'd stumbled upon Evolution, a 17-year-old natural history store .
I make a living from convincing people to do things like upholster their chairs in toile but what I'd really love to encourage people to do is hang a beautifully mounted Calloplophora solli.
Sadly, not absolutely everyone shares my opinion that insects are spectacularly lovely.
Just look at these patterns and colorations. Fabric designers take note.
Evolution has an entomology staff whom they describe as artisans . Artists is more like it. Mounting and preserving insect specimens for scientific study is an exacting and difficult discipline. That Evolution has a staff of them speaks volumes about the store and about the city it calls home.
I love layout in all of its forms and for me design starts in the natural global. As designers we mimic and recreate the shapes, bureaucracy and colorings of the natural international and seeing the herbal global displayed like this is a real thrill.
Some human beings get freaked out by means of the very idea of an insect and that's too bad. Others get worked up over the idea of mounting what have been once residing creatures. I do not see the point of that either. Preserving biological range would not stand a risk if no one is familiar with it and the key to know-how it's far first-rate, medical specimens. That I can buy them too is a bonus. Evolution has a brilliant statement on their internet site that sums up their commitment to the world's insects:
All our bugs are legally acquired and had been cleared by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. We do not promote any species listed within the Endangered Species Act. Most of our insects come from insect farms positioned in a number of the maximum distinctive tropical and subtropical areas on the earth. Insect farming affords earnings for indigenous peoples, gets rid of the weight on wild stuck species, and promotes the maintenance and care of herbal environments in place of its exploitation, as is often the case with other agricultural corporations.Evolution also sells bones, fossils, minerals, taxidermy specimens and shells. They sell everything with the same sense of awe and respect that they sell their mounted insects.
If you ever locate yourself on Spring Street and you're thinking what sort of issue you could purchase me, this would be a good begin.
Here's a near up because I just cannot help myself.
If you can't make it to Spring Street, here's the link to Evolution's website .