Supplying taxidermy to museums, schools, artists, entertainment industry and private collectors for many years.
Established in 1981 Adrian has been working in the field ever since. A naturalist by nature, Adrian’s lifelong passion as a birdwatcher and naturalist led to his fascination and flair with taxidermy.
Traditional Quality
Adrian uses traditional methods of taxidermy. He uses woodwool for creating mannequins, glass eyes for realism and has a flair for creating natural mounts for every item of taxidermy.
Freeze Dry
Adrian is one of the few commercial taxidermists in the UK to use freeze drying techniques on smaller specimens. This process has excellent results. A little more aftercare is required by spraying your taxidermy with an anti-moth spray, or using moth balls where your item is kept.
Background History
Adrian Johnstone began his hobby of taxidermy when he was quite young, around the age of ten or eleven. He first used a book from Darlington library called ‘Step by Step Taxidermy’ to learn the basics. Many of his early subjects were small birds which were found by the roadside whilst out cycling on a weekend, mostly victims of road traffic. When he was eighteen Adrian moved to Harrogate in North Yorkshire to become a full time taxidermist, he did a three year apprenticeship with a company called Starbeck Taxidermy, previously known as The World of Nature from Kirby Fleetham. Later he moved back to Darlington and opened up a workshop in 1984 where he prepared and sold taxidermy, and then later a shop on High Northgate from June 1986 until December 2007.
We still use many of the traditional ways in taxidermy. We use woodwool for making the mannequins, glass eyes for a real life effect, and natural poses for every animal and bird we work on.
We also freeze dry a lot of the smaller items. This process is very well known and the results are the same as for the tradition method of taxidermy.
We are a small friendly business, well known, and with extremely professional results in our work.
