A Curiosity-Filled Shop Opens on the Upper East Side

Every collector worth his salt has to have a narwhal tusk,” says Christopher Gow, only half joking, standing next to a seven-foot-tall specimen. He notes that the tusks of the so-called unicorn of the sea were “a fixture of 16th-century cabinets of curiosities,” the eccentric assortments of natural-history and art objects assembled by Renaissance nobles and early men of science. Those Wunderkammern, as the collections were also known, are essentially the model for Creel and Gow, the new boutique Gow has launched with business partner Jamie Creel on a leafy block on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. In addition to narwhal tusks, the duo specializes in curios ranging from taxidermy peacocks and flamingos to ostrich eggs, rare minerals, coral branches, fossils, and even deconstructed lobsters under bell jars. Not to mention an array of artisanal decorative objects.

Creel and Gow is in some ways the sequel to the British-born Gow’s previous firm, Ruzzetti & Gow, probably best known for its silver-coated seashells (also available at the new shop). But it was Creel, introduced to Gow by a mutual friend, who came up with the concept for the recent venture. A native New Yorker who lives mainly in Paris, Creel was inspired by a trip to the Galápagos. “I thought, Wouldn’t it be amazing to put together a store where everything came from Mother Nature?” he says. After some persistence, he convinced Gow, too.

For both men, one of the great pleasures of having the shop is scouting the items they sell. Creel frequents the Paris auction house Drouot for antiques but also seeks out artists and craftspeople, such as the Frenchwoman who makes playful terra-cotta candlesticks that are figurines of animals (rhinos, deer, rams) dressed in ascots and redingotes. And with homes in Buenos Aires and Tangier, Creel has lines on Argentine leatherwork and Moroccan textiles. Gow, meanwhile, often travels to remote corners of the world—parts of the Middle East where Westerners rarely go, for instance—to work with traditional artisans on specialty designs for the store. “These are not pieces you can send to China to be copied,” he says.

Everything is responsibly sourced, from the stuffed birds (acquired from zoos after the animals die) to the narwhal tusks (which are vintage). And though there are very few of the latter, collectors should not despair: The shop will be offering resin reproductions.