Miniature Furniture For Cats Is A Real Thing, On Sale In Japan

If you have been feeling bad for your four-legged furry friends because they do not have their own furniture for themselves, then you may no longer have to worry.

An artisan furniture maker in Japan recently released a range of eye-catching miniature furniture pieces for your feline friends modeled on the company’s regular, full-size human range, reports said Wednesday.

Japanese craft collective Okawa Kagu has produced a line of high quality, miniature furniture meant for cats. The pieces produced are actually miniature versions of the original pieces for humans that already exist in their collection, so that you and your pet cat can have matching sets, according to Mymodernmet.com, a website publishing pieces on art, photography, architecture and more.

Okawa Kagu is a group of more than a dozen artisans so each piece has been specially designed by a different craftsman to make a perfect fit for your pets.

The furniture project is a part of a campaign titled, “Craftsman MADE,” and the goal of the project is to promote Fukuoka, an area in Japan that is a hub for professional craftsmen, and that has housed the once-prosperous craft industry in the area. Craftsmen in the region range from those in woodworking and hardware to glass and cutlery. The city has been a home to 150 furniture-manufacturing factories, according to Mashable.

Okawa Kagu came up with the idea of the project and planned to merge the internet’s love for feline creatures with the skills of local artisans in Japan. The new collection took existing full-scale designs meant for humans and down-sized those in order to produce high-quality miniature versions.

"Using carefully selected timber, we finished carefully one by one with outstanding craftsmanship," the Okawa Kagu explained on its website referring to the furniture. The collection currently comprises of a pinewood sofa, which has been produced and designed by Hiromatsu Furniture, and a dark wood cat bed designed and produced by Tateno Mokuzai.

One can view an installation showcasing the pieces at the Okawa Terrazza, the city’s tourism and interior information center that focuses on highlighting the local design. Each product has been made available by their respective manufacturers, News.co.au reported.

The video above shows a dark wood cat bed, part of the collection of miniature furniture.

The video above shows a pinewood sofa — part of the collection of miniature furniture.

This collection comes weeks after IKEA released its first furniture collection designed specifically for pets earlier this month that includes a treehouse-like cat hideaway, and also a bowl that encourages dogs to eat slowly.

The “Lurvig” collection was designed by Inma Bermudéz. While working on the collection, the Bermudéz worked along with vet Barbara Schäfer to make sure that different behaviors types and habits of the animals were being accounted for.

"It's really important to use an animal's natural needs and behaviors — like how they sleep, eat or play — as a starting point," said Bermudéz, according to design and architecture magazine Dezeen.

"Dogs will definitely chew on their toys and bring in dirt from their daily walks," she continued. "Cats will definitely scratch on most surfaces and are sensitive to smell and texture. So safe, durable materials are very important."