At 346 Upper York Street, inside a colourful property in West Launceston, lies one of the largest collections of animals hides and furs in Australia.
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Animalia Exotica is the project of Diane Briggs, a Tasmanian local who, after some time on the mainland, has returned home and set up a wholly unique business.
But the store had unpleasant beginnings.
About seven years ago, Ms Briggs suffered two brain hemorrhages which led to doctors discovering multiple aneurysms – something that has seen her in and out of brain surgery ever since.
Her initial vocation was anthropology, and she has a PhD in the social construction of scientific knowledge. But her unexpected illness made it impossible to continue in that field.
“During the middle of that I was a sole parent, and I was terrified I was going to lose my house, lose my life … so I was looking for something to do,” she said.
The inspiration came by way of her niece, who was volunteering at a wildlife park in Africa.
The park sold animal skins as a way of raising money for conservation, and Ms Briggs thought, well, she could sell them. She tanned her first hide at the age of 13, so she understood the product, and knew how to sell it.
The first skins she sold were zebra and warthog, imported from that park – and she’s been importing high-quality hides and furs ever since.
All of the goods she sells either start out as waste from the meat industry, or on the bodies of invasive species such as rabbits and tanukis, a pest in Europe.
There’s everything from reindeer fur to ostrich feather: one of the mantras on her website is “cocoon the ones you love in luxury.”
And it’s her website that brings her most of her income.
“The internet saved my life: Etsy, eBay,” she said.
“I export a lot of things out of the state, but I can still live here – one kilometre away from the centre of the city, with no traffic, no issues, life is a lot easier, and I still have access to the rest of the world.
“This week I’ve sold to America, France, the UK, and Czechoslovakia.”
She’s primarily an importer and exporter, but she believes Tasmania is missing out on lost opportunities when it comes to animal skins and furs.
“Australia actually imports rabbit skins, because we don’t have the tanneries here,” she said.
“I have fish leather here, which is a salmon leather. It’s the world’s first machine-washable leather, you can wash it at 30 degrees in the washing machine and it won’t lose its flexibility, and I can only import it from Iceland.
“It’s an industry waiting to happen here.”
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