It takes a creative mind to see the potential in an animal that is no longer with us, and a keen business mind to see the potential profit in dealing with such inventory.
Diana Adelberg takes the niche of taxidermy a step further, turning her hobby into an innovative business that has found a sweet spot in Georgia’s film industry.
Yes, set designers will come and ask for the typical deer head on the wall, but that is not what gets Diana up every morning.
“It’s the outside-the-box items that keep this job interesting,” she says.
Take one step into Abram’s Creative Space and your eyes are immediately drawn to Joe-raffe, a 10-foot tall, stuffed giraffe that tends to make his way all around the shop. A few more steps in and you’re faced with a basket of huge animal bones, near the creepy baby doll heads found in horror movies.
Diana’s taxidermy work has been used in productions such as Stranger Things, Manifesto, Ozark, Hap & Leonard and Adult Swim’s Your Pretty face is going to hell. But don’t think of the old stiff animals from films past. Absinthe is specializing in soft mount pets that allow you to mold them and make them more realistic.
Her set supply doesn’t stop with what is in the store. If you need something off the wall, odds are Diana knows where to find it.
“It’s not the museum quality animal in demand as much anymore. People literally want things that look like road kill,” she says. “Friends will drive past road kill on the side of the road and immediately pick up the phone to ask me if I need it — and the answer is almost always yes.”
Comments