The Washington Post - USA (2022-06-12)

SUNDAY, JUNE 12 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST PG EE E5

Book World

All about

interiors for

pets that will

leave you both

purring

LYCS ARCHITECTURE

BY MAILE PINGEL

W

hen my husband and I

are ready to call it a

day, one of us will

loudly say, “Big beds!”

which prompts our elderly Chi-

huahua, Herschel, to move from

his living room bed (a fuzzy little

igloo, of sorts) to his bedroom

bed. There, he stretches out on a

memory foam doggy mattress

that cost nearly as much as our

own.

When it comes to animals,

there are two kinds of people: pet

people and not pet people. I fall

firmly in the former and, quite

honestly, don’t understand the

latter. When Lady Danbury

growled, “Not on my chair!” as

Kate Sharma’s corgi, Newton,

jumped into her bergère in this

season’s “Bridgerton,” I let out a

chuckle. I’d have given Newton a

footstool to make the hop easier.

(Herschel has a ramp for our

sofa.)

Silk brocade and paws may be

asking for trouble, but a surge in

good-looking pet decor has not

only made our homes more at-

tractive but is also helping our

pets feel better, too. Two new

books — “For the Love of Pets:

Contemporary Architecture and

Design for Animals” and “Where

They P urr: Inspirational Interiors

and the Cats Who Call Them

Home” — explore ways in which

we might more comfortably —

and, in some cases, luxuriously —

coexist with our furry friends.

“For the Love of Pets” delves

into dozens of products and proj-

ects from around the globe that

reflect the changes happening in

the pet decor market, especially a

new consideration of the physical

and psychological needs of our

animals. A modular cardboard

system by Ta iwan design firm A

Cat Thing was inspired by its

founders’ traumatized rescue cat,

who sought comfort in the dark

recesses of a simple box. Fetch

House, from D.C.-headquartered

firm CallisonRTKL, is a 3D-print-

ed doghouse made to size and

inset with tennis balls, melding

easy grab-and-go playtime with a

dog’s need to den.

Architects are having some

fun, too. As part of an earthquake

retrofit, Hitotomori Architects in

Nara, Japan, added interior struc-

tural supports that could double

as catwalks for the family’s f elines

(they even made it so the cats

could move from room to room

via the ceiling beams), and Cal-

gary, Alberta, firm Studio North

creates built-in wall nooks for

quiet hidey spaces.

When I asked Phoenix-based

cat style expert Kate Benjamin,

founder of Hauspanther, “Is it too

much to decorate for your pet?”

her answer was a resounding,

“No!” A former director of mar-

keting for a baby-gear company,

CATable 2.0, by LYCS Architecture,

is made up of four diverse wood blocks

that can be arranged to satisfy your

cat’s and your heart’s desire.

flat-pack furniture company, is

making pet furniture, including a

side table with a pullout bed for

owners on a tight budget.

Pet Keen also points out that

73 percent of owners report that

their pets bring their families

closer together. In that

spirit of appreciation,

Australian photographer

Paul Barbera published

“Where They Purr,” a fol-

low-up to his artist-stu-

dio-focused book,

“Where They C reate.” The

book features luxury in-

teriors but is focused on

the felines that inhabit

them. “One day, I was

shooting Swiss artist Olaf

Breuning in the New York

City loft where he lived

and worked, when I spot-

ted his two regal British

shorthairs lounging on a

table,” recounts Barbera

in his introduction.

“Within this human

realm, the cats seemed

like living, breathing dei-

ties; earthly yet mystical.

I felt compelled to im-

mortalize their elusive

energy with my camera

before the moment was

gone.”

What makes Barbera’s

book so coffee-table-wor-

thy is how charmingly it

captures each cat’s eccen-

tricities. While Winston

Fluffybum likes to perch

in the library window of his 19th-

century Italianate home in Mel-

bourne, Australia, neighbor Har-

vey Crafti prefers the living room

sofa, from which he can admire

his own likeness custom-embroi-

dered onto an ottoman by design-

er Suzie Stanford. But there’s a p et

decor denier in every group: Her-

cules, another Melbourne resi-

dent, wants to be nowhere more

than his owner’s chest.

“The world has a better under-

standing of compassion now, that

these are sentient beings,” Benja-

min says. “They’re a part of our

lives, and it’s fulfilling.” And what

nicer way to express our gratitude

for the joy they bring our house-

holds than to give them an indul-

gent little something all their own.

Maile Pingel is a writer in Los

Angeles and a former editor at

Architectural Digest.

Benjamin watched that market

shift from day-care-like designs

to upscale options and wondered

why the same wasn’t happening

in the pet world. “We need to

design for our animals,” she says.

“We need to understand their

behavioral side so

they’re comfy and stress-

free. Cats are tiny preda-

tors with natural in-

stincts — climb, scratch,

hide, hunt — and if you

cater to that, you can

help them live their best

life.” It’s a subject Benja-

min — co-author of “Cat-

ification” and “Catify to

Satisfy” with behaviorist

Jackson Galaxy of Ani-

mal Planet’s “My Cat

From Hell” — knows

well. Her design solu-

tions for clients range

from inexpensive hacks

to custom jobs that run

up to $5,000.

The pet decor boom

extends to what we hu-

mans call “tabletop.”

When Seattle-based in-

dustrial designer Jay Sae

Jung Oh couldn’t find

the right dishes for her

dog, Boo, she created her

own collection, launch-

ing Boo Oh in 2018. (It

also includes leather

harnesses, leashes and

uber-chic poop bags.) “I

wanted simple, mini-

malist bowls but could

only find things with crazy graph-

ics,” she explains, adding that she

would hide her ugly old bowls

when friends came over. “There’s

been a lack of options on the

market, and I thought, someone

needs to fix this.” (I share Oh’s

disdain for silly bowls and for

years have adopted lonely an-

tique saucers at estate sales —

they were the perfect size for my

cats and work equally well for toy

dog breeds.)

In t he success of these boutique

operations, big manufacturers

have spied a juicy treat. Accord-

ing to pet advice company Pet

Keen, the pet accessories market

is expected to grow by $9.2 billion

from 2022 to 2025. “Pet decor has

become more mainstream with

social media,” explains Benjamin.

“Ikea has a whole section now

with some really fantastic things.”

Sauder, North America’s leading

WHERE THEY

PURR

By Paul Barbera

Thames & Hudson.

239 pp. $50

FOR THE LOVE

OF PETS

Edited by the

Images

Publishing Group.

248 pp.

Paperback, $35

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