Our team colleagues
Taxidermy & Wildlife artists
We would like to introduce our team to you! We are known internationally as one of the premier taxidermy- studios and taxidermy-shops.
Erwin van Zoelen
Founder/ Owner/ Qualified taxidermist
[email protected]
Driven by his passion for nature and taxidermy Erwin van Zoelen founded de Museumwinkel.com in 2010 to bring everyone a little closer to nature. He’s been cleaning and articulating skulls and skeletons since he was young and from there he started specializing in the art of taxidermy.
As a certified taxidermist Erwin focuses on the stuffing of large mammals and birds like rheas, cranes, ostriches, deer and African trophies, and occasionally also smaller animals. Additionally, over the yearsErwin has specialized in restoring antique specimen, giving them back their shine.
When your passion becomes your profession, wonderful things happen...
Sophie Kiela
Qualified taxidermist/ Dutch Champion Taxidermy
[email protected]
Sophie Kiela was formerly a bio technician, but now she has put her heart into the art of taxidermy. She’s been in the craft since 2005, with Erwin van Zoelen showing her the ropes. She is amongst top taxidermists in the Netherlands. Sophie mostly focusses on the taxidermy of birds, but she has also specialized in the preparation of small to fox-sized mammals and insects. in 2015 ánd in 2019, she has won the Dutch championships of taxidermy, with her mounted bird and even being deemed “Best of Show”.
Together with our taxidermists Rick Way and Wesley Kevenaar, Sopie Kiela received a special award for Most Artistic Entry with their stunning collective taxidermy piece, featuring 2 magpies and a wolverine, on the European Taxidermy Championships in 2018.
Nicolette Naphausen
Nicolette Naphausen takes care of the management of de Museumwinkel.com and, together with Erwin van Zoelen, supervises the processes in the company. In addition to her main responsibilities in running the company and setting overall product strategy, she remains actively involved in the sales, design, and product teams within the organization.
Nicolette is driving the company’s vision of Taxidermy with talent faster than ever. She holds a Master of Arts from the University of Nijmegen and she has a keen eye for quality, design and taxidermy. With her knowledge and enthusiasm on nature, she can offer extensive advice. She herself is an enthusiastic collector of modern and Victorian taxidermy.
Rick Way
Qualified taxidermist/ Dutch Champion Taxidermy
[email protected]
Rick Way specializes in the taxidermy of small and medium-sized birds. He’s been awarded twice with the title of Dutch Champion Taxidermy, clearly showing the precision and accuracy he puts into his work.
Together with our taxidermists Wesley Kevenaar and Sopie Kiela, Rick Way received a special award for Most Artistic Entry with their stunning collective taxidermy piece, featuring 2 magpies and a wolverine, on the European Taxidermy Championships in 2018.
Rick does taxidermy the way it's meant to be done. He has a great deal of reference and hands on experience, both in the field and in the studio. Each animal is treated with a lot of respect. That is why he is often asked to do taxidermy work for collectors and museums.
Daphne Plugers- Horstink
Taxidermist
[email protected]
Daphne specializes in mammal taxidermy, particularly pets like dogs and cats. She truly gives these animals a second life. Throughout the taxidermy process, she maintains excellent contact with the client.
Born and raised in Arnhem, she studied product design at the ArtEZ University of the Arts. During the Dutch Taxidermy Championships 2019, she won the first prize with her muskrat. In the European Championships in Salzburg in 2023, she won the second prize in the masters category with her Siberian weasel, among many other awards!
During the 2024 Dutch Championships, she achieved the highest scores in all categories she participated in and brought home beautiful prizes.
She also restores the animals' colorful beauty by airbrushing them professionally.
Patrick Vos
Insect and Butterfly department[email protected]
Patrick Vos is responsible for the department of butterflies and insects. When you order a butterfly on the web shop or at our store, Patrick frames it for you with the greatest precision.
Patrick also is very experienced in preserving insects and butterflies, making sure that we can offer the best quality to you. He is learning to become a specialized entomologist.
Lina Walen
Work preparer/taxidermist/airbrusher
[email protected]
Lina is a woman with knowledge in various fields. From palaeontology to welding iron frames to colouring the most colourful poultry.
Coming from a family of taxidermists and palaeontologists, she was there at a young age. Lina prepares the animals before the preparers can work with them and will often take on the colour finishing. Working with different materials such as epoxy or silicone and making casts of necessary animal materials is also not unknown to her. Lina herself has also become a skilled preparator, scoring in the 90s at the European championships with her full-size casuaris preparation that was well cared for down to the last detail.
Marshall van Emondt
Taxidermist/falconer
[email protected]
Marshall has been with us for about 3 years now and is already a skilled preparator. Marshall was apprenticed to another preparator before this where he already gained some knowledge and experience and even got to help with large projects such as an elephant full-size preparation. In his spare time, he works a lot with birds of prey and owls and therefore knows very well the external features of these special birds. Partly because of this special volunteer work, he can also reproduce this well on the stuffed varieties.
Marshall is now very skilled at stuffing small to medium-sized birds and is learning to become more skilled in mammalian preparations. As such, Marshall has now also competed in the European Championships and has already scored high marks there with his Amazon parrot in Beginners.
You are going to hear a lot more about this upcoming talent!
Fabian van Rooij
Verkoopmedewerker
[email protected]
Fabian is an enthusiastic, social young man who is always ready to help you in our museum shop with a smile. Besides his work in the shop, where he helps you with checkout and answers all your questions, Fabian has a special passion for nature and animals. He is currently studying biology as a teacher and loves everything to do with the animal world. In the shop, he is therefore not only an expert in handling orders, but also the man behind the insects that he frames and places in cloches with great care.
Fabian has quickly become a familiar face on our Instagram account, where he often shares his Freek Vonk impressions. His enthusiasm and knowledge of nature are so appreciated that he is sometimes compared to the famous biologist. Outside his work, he has big dreams; in the future, he hopes to study marine biology and further deepen his knowledge of the ocean and its inhabitants.
Whether you have a question about one of the exhibitions, want to admire an insect or just have a nice chat about animals - Fabian is always willing to help!