Monday, July 9, 2007

Beastly Beautiful


This week, I am going to be focusing on just one store and all of the wonderful details that are contained within it. That store is Island Mercantile, in Disney's Animal Kingdom. As with the rest of the park, it is full of incredible artwork that is often overlooked. The theme is a place where goods from around the world are traded, with animal motifs used to give it a feeling of whimsy.

Today will highlight the "Elephant Room," so nicknamed due to the prevalent theme of, what else, elephants.

The motif begins outside, on the intricately decorated lamposts:

Moving inside, and looking upwards, one can see that they even provide support for the roof:
There are beautiful lamps hanging from the ceiling:

On the wall high above guests is a shelving unit that contains an assortment of artwork from different cultures. The shelf's design mimicks that which is used on the lamps. Two paintings of adorned elephants flank the unit.

Support columns line the walls, and are painted with little delicate elephants:

As if the elephant theme wasn't obvious enough at this point, the light fixtures on the wall help to remind: