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Maissa Toulet’s Curiosity Cabinets

Paris-based artist Maissa Toulet’s Curiosity Cabinets are quirky little worlds encased in glass, where animal and people parts mingle with plant life and funny little objects.

While she discovered the shadow boxes and assemblies of American artist Joseph Cornell when she was a teen, it wasn’t until she was 30, after a stint as a teacher, that Toulet dared to arrange her eclectic jumble into her own presentations. Toulet describes her pieces as “miniature museums” in which each object has a place and is not interchangeable. Her newest ones tend towards story-telling.

Marni Elyse Katz is a Contributing Editor at Design Milk. She lives in Boston where she contributes regularly to local publications and writes her own interior design blog, StyleCarrot.