Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/956427
47 Jacob Sudhoff and Jerry Hooker A ntiques and design s t o r e M o x i e i s undergoing a brave new expansion and makeover. Co-owner Dennis Brackeen, one of Houston's most talented designers, has been renovating the 9,000-square-foot West Alabama emporium, which also houses his design offi ces, for more than a year. A gorgeous, inky-black curiosities room is the fi rst space to be unveiled, with more to come in late April. "It's fantasy; it's surrealism," Brackeen says. Exotic animal taxidermy — ostrich, leopard, Alaskan mountain goat, zebra — is for sale, reminiscent of Deyrolle, the Parisian shop of curiosities known for natural sciences. (Moxie sells taxidermy from humane preserves in the U.S. that supply naturally expired animals.) A fantastical taxidermy ram has been dressed as a geisha, in a moment Brackeen describes as "Deyrolle meets Daniel Lismore," in reference to a British artist known for his sartorial fl amboyance. In the Wunderkammern, Brackeen's son, artist Jordan Brackeen, has painted a pair of 10-foot black-and-white sphinxes above the custom cabinetry, along with Medusa, her hair a mass of writhing snakes. Wonder chambers and walls are coated in Fine Paints of Europe's Black 0029, the designer's favorite color for creating intimate spaces; the Fine Paints of Europe collection is carried in the store. Cabinets hold such rarities as fossils, crystals, architectural fragments, cloisonné, bronze busts, blanc de Chine fi gures, and circa-1960 Georges Briard plates, which Brackeen has collected for years. "We are not your typical antiques store," he says. "We're a place where people can come to be inspired." Moxie, 2031 W. Alabama, moxie-interiors.com. Clockwise from top: Antique Chinese ancestor painting, cut from its canvas. Hand- painted elements by Jordan Brackeen. French chandelier, 1910. Vintage bronze and blanc de Chine sculptures. Cabinet of curiosities. Taxidermy ram draped in silk kimonos. Gilt starburst, 21st century. French chandelier, 1910.