Dezeen is curating a design exhibition at The Jones hotel in London this September and October, exploring contemporary designers’ fascination with animals. Update 09/09/08: we are disappointed to announce that this exhibition has been postponed due to a flood at The Jones. More info coming soon – for updates please check here.

Called Menagerie at The Jones and curated by Dezeen’s Marcus Fairs and Rupinder Bhogal, the exhibition brings together works by dozens of leading contemporary designers including Julia Lohmann, Hella Jongerius, Front, Jaime Hayon, the Campanas and many more, plus cutting-edge taxidermists Polly Morgan and Kelly McCallum, artists including Stephen Johnson and leading brands such as Lladró, Nymphenburg, Thorsten van Elten, Artecnica and Vitra.

This is Dezeen’s second exhibition: last September we curated Trash Luxe at Liberty in London. Images from top: Cow Bench by Julia Lohmann; Pig Table by Front for Moooi; Bank in the Form of a Pig by Harry Allen for Areaware.

Above: Pigeon with Helmet by Jaime Hayon for Bosa. Below: Now Isn’t That Lovely (Stag) by Stephen Johnson, courtesy of Gallery Fumi.

The exhibition will for the first time bring together in one location products, limited edition objects and artworks that are the result of designers’ fascination with the beauty of living creatures and their new-found willingness to explore figurative rather than abstract forms and to tackle subjects that were until recently considered sentimental, kitsch or tasteless.

As well as contemporary works, Menagerie at The Jones will also present many pieces from the early and mid Twentieth Century. Above: Lying Stag by August Göhring for Nymphenburg, 1939. Below: Eames House Birds by Charles & Ray Eames for Vitra.

The work will be displayed in the historic interiors of The Jones, a new destination hotel in Bayswater, London, with the objects displayed to compliment the stunning 1900s interior. The show is intended to evoke the sense of being in a menagerie – private collections of living wild animals that were fashionable among the aristocracy before the advent of public zoos.

The images shown here were shot on location at The Jones by photographer James Gardiner. Above: Elephants at Dusk by Committee for Lladró Re-Cyclos Collection.

Graphic design is by Alexander Boxill.

Menagerie at The Jones runs from Tuesday 16 September to Sunday 19 October at The Jones, 1-9 Inverness Terrace, London W2 3JP. Dezeen will also be curating a series of design talks at The Jones during the London Design Festival – more details coming soon.

Over the coming weeks we’ll be posting updated information on Menagerie at The Jones here

For press enquiries contact amy@camron.co.uk

Dezeen readers can stay at The Jones and save 50% on the normal room rate – see our earlier story for details.