It’s probably the only place you’ll ever find an Ostrich, Elephant, Moose, and Polar bear in the same room short of a toy store, but these are stuffed animals in the literal sense. Deyrolle is a taxidermy store like none other, and one browse around the shop makes you sure of that regardless of whether you've visited one before. No animal too ordinary or too exotic, walls of fossils and collections of beetles are housed next to kangaroos and pet dogs that owners dropped off to be “reanimated” and never returned to re-claim (perhaps they reconsidered their intentions?)

Their two-story shop has been in the same location on rue du Bac in Paris since the shop took over the former home of Louis XIV’s banker in 1881 (though the store dates back to 1831 at Emile Deyrolle’s first location). The shop feels like it hasn’t changed much since it first opened, though a fire last year caused the store to lose an unfortunate amount of re-purposed critters. Luckily, the little shop has friends in high places, with neighbors like Hermes and others who stepped up to the plate to help restore the shop with every bit of its old world charm.

My friend Bastien and I headed in for a browse around the store, and took some photos while we were at it.  Check out our peek into the world of Deyrolle, and stay tuned for a super special collaboration that Opening Ceremony has in store with Deyrolle!

FILED UNDER: deyrolle , paris , usa vs. france , collaboration