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The big issue with products developed for cats is that they generally have little to do with good design. Scratching posts and litter boxes for cats can often be humongous and terrible plastic items that do not harmonize with chic home interiors. Product designers offer solutions where elegance and pet design come hand in hand.

Designers Stephan Verkaik and Beth Horneman from pet furniture brand Catham City have designed a perfect solution for bringing cats and their owners together. Named Loveseatt, the furniture piece comprises a chair with a built-in exercise wheel for a cat. The design merges two different worlds into one, giving owners the opportunity to comfortably relax, while the cat gets the amount of exercise it needs. This is an uncommon approach in the pet design world, where usually products accommodate animal needs exclusively, without taking the owner into consideration.

Seeking to make their design as sustainable as possible, the team has opted for responsibly sourced beech, a durable kind of wood that gives the chair that kind of longevity. For the pillow, the design incorporates recycled PU, a resistant material that doesn’t allow cats to dig their nails into it.

The product is shipped as a rather small self-assembly bundle, thus minimizing transportation and impacting the carbon footprint in a positive way.

Korea-based industrial design academy Designer Dot and its student Lee Da-eun have developed a drying room for cats that helps reduce the stress of the pet, most of which hate bathing. Tailored to the cats’ habits and needs, the product, named Dmuse, also doubles as a shelter and toy area, which adds to its functionality, since cats do not often bathe.

As cats prefer to hide in dark, snug spaces, the design team has put a small hideout area at the bottom of the dry space combined with transparent doors and windows to satiate the cats’ curiosity as they gaze outside. The designers also raised the drying chamber and added an elevated platform for the cats to pad their way up to the alcove.

Inside the dry room, a device for playing whack-a-mole is designed so that they could freely engage in indoor activities. The difficulty level can be adjusted using the touch-sensitive panel outside the device. The same panel is used to control wind strength and drying time.

Besides, thanks to its earthy palette, matte texture and sleek design, the object is a perfect addition to any contemporary interior.

Another Korea-based designers, Jiyoun Kim Studio, has collaborated with local pet brand Milliong to create a collection comprising a cat tower and a cat scratcher that help create harmonious living spaces for both pets and their owners.

The modular Three Poles tower is made with round birch plywood on top of three sturdy metal rods, which can be rearranged according to the user’s taste and needs. The metal plate inside of the carpet at the bottom serves as the overall support for the product.

The second part of the project, Two Circles scratcher is made of fabric and birch wood over a metal structure that elegantly overlap when seen from the front. The materials and colour palette for the range have been selected to achieve a sleek design blending in with surroundings that is as functional as it is design-minded.