Since 2019, Etsy has honored the diversity and creativity of their worldwide creators with their Design Awards (aka the Etsies), where judges trawl through applicants’ best work to find the cream of the crop and recognize what’s tops in originality, functionality, and overall aesthetics.

This year, the judges tasked with this seemingly impossible task included fashion designer Jenna Lyons, interior designers Brigette Romanek and Jake Arnold, and Etsy’s own trend expert Dayna Isom Johnson, who, after careful review, narrowed the field to 100 finalists across ten categories. Below are just some of the coolest offerings that emerged victorious; winners that, according to Johnson, showcase and “unearth the most unbelievable and creative talent in our [Etsy] community.”

Grand Prize: Large Modern Wall Hanging by WeAreLunarium

Seller Tim Stephenson’s gloriously oversized wall hanging is a modernist dream come true. A textile masterpiece created with a plethora of materials including plywood, metal, ceramics, wood beads, and of course, tassels, the grand prize winner impressed judges with its “midcentury modern pizzazz.”

Kids Category Winner: Knitted Charcuterie by ColetteBream

Charcuterie boards are a photogenic presence on social media feeds, but this winning gem from ColetteBream proves that the colorfully creative and edible arrays of delicious treats aren’t just for snacking and low-key IG bragging. Here, they take the form of comfy, cozy sausage and salami pillows.

Pets Category Winner: Rectangular Cat House by LiveinIdeals

Etsy is littered (pun intended) with spectacular craftsmanship for pets. This trendy cat house is an iconic example of how shoppers don’t have to sacrifice style for functionality, even for their four-legged friends.

Furniture Winner: Suelo Modern Daybed by BertuHome

Maximalism may be having a moment, but everyone knows that the sleek, simple lines of minimalist mainstays will never go out of style. Enter Gretta Jones’ stylish lounger, the ultimate in hip, relaxing vibes inspired by the designer’s “love of travel.”

People’s Pick: Convex Aura Mirror by SurreyWoodsmiths

As someone once said: “Give the people what they want.” It appears what they want is this curvaceously convex mirror made with a single piece of birch. The people’s favorite of 2022, the sculptural work of art was created by former engineer-turned-furniture maker Jonathan Hitchcock.

Home Decor and Lighting Winner: Extra Large Leaning Wavy Mirror by pedromealha

Mirrors are having a moment — and with this shapely and whimsical offering, it’s easy to see why. Though it’s available in other colors by request, there’s just something about the bright, vivacious bubblegum pink that’s very barbiecore meets dreamy 60s psychedelia.

Kitchen and Dining Winner: Blue and White Ceramic Bowl by SINDstudio

Etsy is a must-visit for those looking to up their ceramics game, so it should come as no surprise that this blue and white beauty from SINDstudio received top marks for its trendy shape and functional yet elevated design.

Etsy has once again proven that they’re the place to go for a seemingly unending array of creative offerings from craftspeople around the world; a showcase of global artisans and a destination for design-forward inspiration, style, and charm.

The post Etsy Announces 2022 Design Awards Winners first appeared on Dornob.

Pet Bucket Booster Seat

This K&H Products pet booster seat keeps your small-to-medium furry friends in a safe and controlled spot in the car for distraction-free driving. The firm foam crate buckles into your car’s seat belt in either the back or front seat, with two security leashes attached to the booster to keep your pets from jumping out during the ride. This critter car seat averages 4.8 stars based on over 12,000 reviews, and at just $58.51 this Prime Day (over 60 percent off the original price), it’s a pretty great deal to keep you all safe on the road.

Sentry Calming Cat Collar

This collar releases pheromones in just the right dose to help your kitty chill out. The maker, SENTRY, says it has worked with researchers at top universities to develop a product that helps reduce excessive meowing, curbs unwanted clawing and scratching, and eases cat fears of loud noises. The calming neck ring has enough pheromones for 30 days and is good for cats of all ages. This Prime Day, it’s set to sell for $19.36 — a nice 57 percent off the original price.

Tractive Waterproof GPS Dog Tracker

For the dog who doubles as an escape artist or purely for your pet-parent peace of mind, this waterproof GPS Dog tracker from Tractive lets you monitor your pooch’s location in real time and keeps a log of his visited locations. While the device does require a subscription plan that starts at $4.99 a month, the accompanying smartphone phone app can track your pet in over 150 countries, alerts you if your dog leaves the designated safe area, and can even monitor their activity levels. Snag one of your own for just $29.99 this Prime Day.

PETLIBRO Automatic Cat Feeder

This fancy cat food dispenser has sufficient capacity and bowls to feed two pretty kitties at once. The five-liter food container can be programmed to release food between one and six times per day. It’s also fitted with a freshness pouch and sealing strip to keep the food airtight and safe for eating. As a bonus, pet owners can record a 10-second message to call their feline friends to eat up to 5 times each day or night. On Prime Day, this automatic cat feeder will be on sale for $62.99 — a 30 percent discount.

PETMAKER Freestanding Pet Gate

If you need to keep your pet in one area, this freestanding gate can block off almost any doorway, hall, or staircase. Its folding wooden frame can stretch to 73 inches and it’s almost two feet tall, keeping medium and small dogs safely behind the barrier. It comes in brown, gray, or white and has plastic feet on the bottom to protect your floors. Best of all, Amazon is giving this bad boy a 30 percent discount on Prime Day, slashing the price to just $48.95.

Pet Food

Some of the deepest discounts on pet supplies are on highly-rated dog and cat food. You will be able to buy 21 ounces of Stewart Freeze Dried Beef Liver on a 63 percent sale for $20.37. Alternatively, you can scoop up 28 oz of Cadet Gourmet Sweet Potato & Duck Wrapped Dog Treats for just $16.37, itself a 57 percent discount. There’s also tons of dog chews on sale, like the Nylabone All-Natural Chicken Flavored Chew Treat that’s currently on sale for just $4.03, 51 percent off the original price.

These are just a handful of the all the great deals available on pet products now. Keep in mind that the prices are all subject to change, but it’s clear you’ll be able to snag some excellent bargains between today and tomorrow if you keep your eyes peeled.

The post The 6 Best Prime Day Deals for Your Pets first appeared on Dornob.

Taken out of context, “Dmuse” is a puzzling object. It sort of looks like a futuristic clothes dryer complete with a circular glass door — though it also features a chute that looks like it would leave your clean clothes piled all over the floor. Its real use is even closer to a fictional gadget you might have spotted in The Jetsons when you were a kid. After bathing your cat, you place it inside and push a few buttons to select the temperature, duration, and fan strength. 30 seconds or so later, your cat comes out of its high-end sauna experience warm, dry, and fluffed.

We know what you’re thinking. How often do cats even bathe? Who would buy a large, expensive appliance for such a rare occasion? But Dmuse is multifunctional, offering a place for the cat to play, hide, and lounge in between baths. The drying space is at the top, with transparent doors to allow the cat to see outside during their spa treatment. If they get bored, a device for playing whack-a-mole offers a diversion. At the bottom, a dark, snug hole becomes a place to hide out.

The device was created by industrial design academy Designer Dot and student Lee Da-eun as a new smart gadget for the home. “Most cats hate bathing,” Lee writes. “The box-shaped dry room, which has been used a lot recently for convenience reasons, limits the free activities of pets who are stressed by bathing. The user can control the stage of play, wind strength, and drying time with the touch panel. This allows the fur on the cat’s belly to dry through a hole in the bottom plate. The colors were inspired by the cat’s habitat and the nocturnal nature of cats. When the drying time is over, the door will automatically open and the cat can come out on its own.”

Any cat owner will tell you that bathing a cat is rarely a relaxed experience. Most cats don’t like water, and will not only fight you to escape the bath, they’ll run and hide as soon as you let them out of the room, glaring resentfully from on top of the refrigerator with a trail of water in their wake. So a cat-safe drying chamber may not be as outlandish as it sounds — unless it’s a standalone object with no other purposes that just takes up space between baths. That’s what might make the Dmuse attractive to cat lovers, if you happen to have the type of cat that doesn’t ignore the beds and toys you buy in favor of cardboard boxes and paper bags.

Okay, so a cat fluffing orb is definitely an extravagance. But with so many other aspects of our homes getting the “smart” treatment lately, it’s not hard to imagine a future in which objects like this are simply normal parts of our decor.

The post Cats Can Play Whack-a-Mole and Get a Luxury Blow-Dry Inside This Weird Orb first appeared on Dornob.

Because there are strict regulations regarding the separation of food preparation spaces and animals, the architectural duo had to get creative, answering the call in their typical cool style.

Though the project, dubbed “Together Apart,” was completed pre-pandemic, its opening was effected by lockdown and all the ensuing guidelines, and its layout proved to be essential to its success. The space’s design allowed it to function as an animal shelter and cat adoption facility as well as a café, supporting each other and coexisting beneficially for both the local community and its inhabitants.

This is ultimately the goal for the space and its surrounding areas, with Buckminster’s Together Apart Cat Café being only the first stage in construction on the surrounding lot (itself an area zoned by the city to encourage mixed-use communal spaces). The café, despite its necessary divisions, makes use of its space in creative and unexpected ways that could also accommodate other activities. As Davidson Rafaildis co-principal Stephanie Davidson explains, “We are interested in connecting activities that are otherwise problematic to come together.” In this case, cats and caffeine.

To accomplish this, the pair made the space accessible from either end, allowing for the two halves to operate independently while still adhering to local health code regulations. Of course, the two are still connected via “many sliced, mismatched, misaligned, and mirrored elements in the space,” according to Davidson.

The spaces meet in the center with an overlap area that’s cleverly integrated into the overarching design scheme. Transparent partitions and a full-fledged glass wall encourage connectivity and the chance to encounter the café’s feline residents, while the “human” space is lined with benches for visitors who want to enjoy a hot cup of joe.

Though the color palette here is neutral, it serves as the perfect backdrop for all the zigs and zags of the partitions and clever architectural details. The whole effect encourages a sense of continuity within the space despite its physical separations; though distinct halves of the same whole, one never feels that far away from a furry friend or two. The café’a rear area, where the “catio” is located, contains a nine-foot-tall masonry wall ideal for supporting a possible second floor in the future, if necessary.

Thanks to the city’s new zoning ordinances, lots of projects that creatively fulfill multi-use spatial needs are now on the horizon — and Davidson Rafailidis will almost certainly have a hand in developing them. With their eye for blurring the line between the indoors and outdoors and creating community-driven spaces, the possibilities are endless. As Davidson says, “The richness in how spaces might be shared, and how different programs could co-exist with a lot of density and visibility, is really exciting to us.” Until then, residents will have to be content with the Together Apart Cat Café: great news for feline fans and coffee connoisseurs in this historic Buffalo neighborhood.

The post The Perfect Combo: How Davidson Rafailidis Created a Stylish Cat Café in Buffalo first appeared on Dornob.

The team began by selecting seven animals with varying characteristics in the way of eyesight: dog, cat, goldfish, snake, tarantula, parrot, and chameleon. They then isolated room perspectives, looking across a pre-set space and down on it as an aerial view. Using scientific evidence regarding our understanding of animal vision, the HomeAdvisor team then created two renderings of each room/animal combination from both a human and perceived animal view.

Dogs are able to see an array of yellows and blues, along with grayish brown. This means colors that appear bright to us appear dull to them. While that means Fido doesn’t necessarily care if his toy is red or brown, it also means he won’t appreciate the vibrant dog bed or sofa (at least, not the color of it).

Cats eyes have similarities to our own, but they basically see things the way someone with colorblindness would. So again your color palette is wasted on the cats, but they can still appreciate green and blue toy mice. Because cats’ visual acuity is 20/100 to 20/200, the angles of the room appear also differently to them, which means they need to be closer to items to bring them into focus. You can now rest easy knowing that the bookcase across the room will be much less of a draw to them than you.

Your goldfish, on the other hand, can see a wider range of colors than you can because it can see UV light, an adaptation that allows it to see through water. However, a goldfish’s visual focus is remarkably less than a human, making your entire room look like it’s underwater.

The pet snake may be safe in a tank, enjoying the spa-like heat lamp feature, but he’s likely not taking in the view from in there. This is because snakes, with few exceptions, have lousy vision. Not only does your room look like a photo development lab with oddly-lit blacklight highlights to them, but your reptile friend also won’t be able to bring specifics into focus.

If your pet of choice is a tarantula, you likely won’t be going to him for interior design advice. Even with eight eyes, spiders have very poor vision, so your carefully decorated space will almost certainly be underappreciated by the arachnid in the corner. In fact, regardless of your design style, Mr. Tarantula will see little more than a gray blur.

Parrots aren’t just colorful themselves — they also have a range of colors in their tetrachromatic vision. Where humans see red, green, and blue, parrots can also see UV. That means their perch provides a full-spectrum (and typically aerial) perspective of the space. So while the room will appear even more colorful to your feathered friend than it will to you, the spatial layout will be more fluid and less rigid than our eyes provide.

Finally, we have the chameleon, a well-adapted animal that almost literally has eyes in the back of its head. A chameleon’s eyes have the highest level of magnification of any vertebrate, so it’s like having your mother-in-law’s discernment in regards to minute details. To that end, every item is blown up in the chameleon’s perspective, and their panoramic vision allows them a super-wide range of space. Similar to your mother-in-law, if you want to hide the mess from your chameleon, just turn out the lights, as they have very poor vision in the dark.

The post This is How Your Pets See Your Decor first appeared on Dornob.

Sound familiar? Then you’re going to want to check out Colombia-based company CatLife. Every piece of furniture they sell is designed to make your cat think he’s king of the castle without devoting excessive space to items that only cats can use.

At first glance, each piece looks like normal, stylish, and contemporary human furniture. But look a little closer, and you’ll see cat accommodations built into virtually every nook and cranny. The Ginebra Biblioteca is one awesome example. An open metal frame can be fitted with various wood boxes to display your books, lamps, and trinkets like any other bookshelf, but it also contains cat cubbies, beds, and scratching posts. Best of all, doors on enclosed cubes secure any items you want to keep safe from curious claws.

The Gatrimonial Bed, a play on the Spanish word for cat (gato), is a particularly clever way to please your pets using space that’s often wasted. The wooden platform bed base features an internal labyrinth hidden beneath the mattress. Top panels lift up so you can easily check on your furry friends, and holes in various diameters act as entrances, exits, and ventilation.

If you’d really rather have a normal bed yourself but your cat likes to sleep nearby, the Nochera Nova bedside table is a cute way to keep her close. Made of stained and painted wood, it features a cutout design on the front panel and side access. For the living room, the Isis coffee table offers a similar feature along with a second cubby for your books and remotes.

Cats lying on our laps (or, worse, across our keyboards) can make it hard to work from home. CatLife offers a pretty awesome home office setup to keep cats entertained while you’re trying to focus: the Onix desk, which has a cat bed built into the base. You can buy it alone or add on the pictured accessories to create an entire play landscape with multiple surfaces for scratching, jumping, and napping.

Make use of the wall around the television and your cats will think you’re always keeping an eye on them, even if your gaze is really drawn to the screen. Made of pine wood and glass, the Dalí Entertainment Center has a number of not-so-obvious cat perks built into it, like a feeding and watering station on the lower level and climbable cubbies on the upper shelves.

Ranging from $600 to $3,000 USD, this cat/human furniture doesn’t come cheap, but if you’re ready to splurge on a piece or two for your cat-loving home, there’s good news: they’re all available for shipping to many countries, including the United States.

The post CatLife: Human Furniture That Felines Love, Too first appeared on Dornob.

The dog comes as a kit of puzzle-like parts you assemble yourself. Then, whether you’re already well-versed in code or a complete beginner, you can download demo code from GitHub to get the Bittle moving. The process will teach you how to code or help you refine your skills, and you can experiment with writing your own code to teach the dog new tricks.

Bittle is an open platform with a customized Arduino board coordinating all movements, and you can add various types of sensors and artificial intelligence capabilities through Raspberry Pi and other AI chips. Its four legs have springs that give the dog an adorable little jaunt, allowing it to navigate uneven terrain and express “the joy of life whenever it moves.”

If you’re familiar with bigger robot dogs like Boston Dynamics Spot, you probably already know that researchers have only recently been able to achieve this kind of maneuverability, even with the best of the best engineering and components. Spot costs a whopping $74,500, making this kind of robot out of reach for most people. But not only does the Bittle look a lot like a scaled-down Spot, it’s also super affordable.

The whole Bittle Kit is offered as a Kickstarter special for $225, or you can purchase parts individually if you’re already a well-equipped robotics enthusiast. The system comes with five major components: body frame, actuator, electronics, battery, and the software to coordinate the hardware’s tasks. The interlocking frame is like a 3D puzzle, making assembly fun, and it takes about an hour to put it together. The frame is compatible with most 9g servos.

The company explains that they “also designed Bittle to be soft. Besides the elasticity of the material, the spring-loaded upper legs flatten the shock on joint servos to protect their gears. Bittle usually survives regular collisions. In the extreme cases, it will disintegrate at the designated ‘weak link in the chain,’ which is easy and cheap to reinstall or replace.”

“Thanks to the Arduino and Raspberry Pi community, you can find many customization ideas for Bittle. There are four Seeed Grove sockets on NyBoard V1 for extensible modules. To make installation easier, we designed Bittle’s head as a clip to bite on those modules. That explains why we created a dog out of OpenCat this time. We will compile a ‘sensor pack’ perk, including an intelligent camera module, a gesture sensor, a PIR motion sensor, and some other useful sensors. There’s also a screw hole inside Bittle’s head for fixing additional modules.”

If you’re interested in the nitty-gritty of how the Bittle works, like the customized Arduino board, the robot’s Kickstarter page has lots of great info. The campaign closes on Thursday, October 8th, and rewards will start to ship in December 2020.

The post Palm-Sized Robot Dog Does Tricks and Teaches STEM first appeared on Dornob.

Bissell BarkBath

A clean dog isn’t just a happy dog — they’re also welcome in almost anyone’s home. This compact cleaning system lets you bathe your dog on the go and doubles as a portable carpet and upholstered furniture cleaner. Its one-of-a-kind spray nozzle gently reaches deep down to the dog’s skin and deposits the dirty water into a separate tank. For $200, you can easily keep your dog and home clean without bulky equipment or frequent trips to the groomer’s.

Fi Smart Dog Collar

No more fretting over where your dog is when they decide to explore the world explore outside your yard. The lustrous Fi Smart Dog Collar tracks their location with a real-time GPS and reports the data back to you on your smartphone. It also tracks how many steps they take and their total exercise time to monitor their fitness. The collar is $149, and the additional $99 annual subscription fee is a small price to pay for the serenity of knowing your pooch’s whereabouts.

Mighty Paw Smart Bell 2.0

With a minimal amount of training, the Mighty Paw Smart Bell 2.0 lets your dog alert you to their need to go outside and take care of business. Priced between $30 and $40, the system is wireless and needs no batteries, with a customizable ringtone that’s activated by the simple touch of your pet’s paw.

PetChatz Interactive Pet Camera

You don’t have to be Dr. Dolittle to talk to your pet. Thanks to this nifty invention, you can now have two-way calls anytime you’re away from home, and even toss them “treats” or calm them with light bursts and therapeutic scents. The basic system costs around $350, but for a bit more, you can add on “PawCall” buttons that let your pet reach out to you from afar.

Petcube Bites 2 Smart Pet Camera

If you just want to keep tabs on your pet’s secret life when you’re not home, Petcube Bites 2 Smart Pet Camera is the perfect gadget for you. You can reward good behavior with a virtual treat or talk to them with the two-way audio feature. Even better, this system is a little cheaper than others at just $249.

PetSafe Smart Feeder

With the PetSafe Smart Feeder, you’ll never have to feel guilty about not being home to feed your dog on time. Instead, a simple phone app lets you set up an automatic feeding schedule. Set it to dispense an eighth to four full cups of food, or use the “Slow Feed” option to dispense a preset amount of chow over a 15-minute span.

SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder

No more food pilfering between your dog and cat thanks to the SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder. Using microchips, the food inside is only accessible to the right pet when they approach their respective dish. No worries if your pet isn’t microchipped, either: you can also use ID tags on their collars to activate access. At a price of around $150, you can make sure each and every pet gets the proper nutrition every day of the week.

SureFlap Microchip Pet Door

Instead of making repeated trips to the door to let your pet in an out, simplify life for a meager investment of $85. The SureFlap Microchip Pet Door reads a microchip or programmable collar to let the pet in and out without concerns about strays or wildlife getting inside. You can also set up pre-selected times for the doggy door to automatically be locked or unlocked from the outside.

VARRAM Pet Fitness Robot

No more lazy pets that sleep all day while you’re away. The VARRAM Pet Fitness Robot plays with your pet using 16 preset frolicking moves that carefully avoid obstacles throughout your home. The $100 price tag includes a program that monitors your pup’s activity and advises on changes you can make to further improve their health.

Whistle FIT Pet Health Tracker

Finally, this Fitbit-like gadget tells you if your dog is getting the proper amount of exercise based on its breed, weight, and age. Set incremental goals and adjust food amounts to match their activity patterns and keep them at the peak of good health. The tracker costs $80, plus an annual subscription fee of $35.

The post 10 Cool Trinkets and Toys That Will Make Your Dog’s Day first appeared on Dornob.

Japanese artist Monokubo imagines such a scenario, but it’s not quite as terrifying as it sounds. Her digital paintings depict cats, wolves, foxes, birds, and other creatures at what could be a monstrous scale in relation to humans and their built environments, but the mood is far from fearful. Instead, each enlarged animal is like a gentle giant, regarding the tiny people around it with curiosity.

Some of the creatures are protective, offering their small human friends shelter or a place to take a nap. In fact, many of the paintings depict people sinking their faces or entire bodies into the warm, comforting fur or feathers of the oversized animals. It’s an understandable impulse, especially for those of us who are unable to resist rubbing a cat’s soft belly when the opportunity arises.

Others are just doing whatever they’d normally do if people weren’t around — digging in the snow, lounging in the grass, taking a walk, curling up in the forest, or keeping watch from a rooftop (albeit a much smaller rooftop than usual). In other pieces, there’s a palpable sense of anticipation, like one of a wide-eyed cat that seems to be getting ready to pounce. Truthfully, most of us wouldn’t want to be batted around like a toy, so that part is still a little scary to imagine.

If you’re a fan of Studio Ghibli films, some of these paintings might feel familiar. Monokubo first got the idea for the illustrations after watching animated films like Princess Mononoke and My Neighbor Totoro, in which oversized animals are the norm. She tells My Modern Met that she usually chooses to paint animals that have made big impressions on her daily life, like her own cat.

The artist doesn’t reveal much about herself beyond that, but the endearing works she’s created speak for themselves. And if you really love Monokubo’s digital fantasy paintings of cats and other animals, you can have them in your home in the form of a book. The artist released Monokubo Art Works – Megalophilia in 2018 through Japanese publisher KADOKAWA, and it contains 160 pages of wonderful furry images. Here’s the description via AnimeBooks.com, where you can purchase the book:

“Ever got that feeling that someone is looking right at you but you don’t see them? How about an animal trying to blend in [with] their surroundings so that you don’t see them? Artist Monokubo illustrated an average fantasy life of three characters going about their day as they see giant animals lurking around every corner. The artist depicts the essence of each animal and incorporates the characters into their surroundings. A great art book for animal lovers out there.”

Keep up with Monokubo’s latest illustrations by following her on Instagram.

The post Lose Yourself in Japanese Artist Monokubo’s Fantastical Animal Art first appeared on Dornob.

Some people who work a lot might even consider getting a robotic pet in place of a real one so they can have some sense of companionship without all the responsibilities. But what if instead you could get a robotic companion for a real animal? “Varram” is billed as a smart robot for your pet, which helps make sure they’re healthy and active even when you aren’t at home.

Shaped like a cylinder with two little electronic “eyes,” the Varram pet fitness robot rolls around on the floor to play with your pets, keep them entertained, dispense treats, and also monitor and record interaction data. Aimed at pet owners who are worried about their furry friends not getting enough stimulation and exercise, which can lead to boredom, depression, and obesity, the robot moves on its own, complete with a built-in obstacle avoidance system.

An accompanying app for both Android and iOS lets you set your own schedule for your pet’s play time, activity routines, sleep time, and treat time. But it’s also equipped with AI technology and capable of analyzing your pet’s behavior and mood to adapt to their personalities, so shy pets will get gentler movements. Touch sensors recognize pet interactions and understand when they want a treat.

The bot’s official crowdfunding page features a first-person narrative that reads: “People who have created me are quite handy. Actually, they have more than 10 years experience in creating pet-related smart gadgets like me and delivering the best experience to people like you. There are thousands of pet parents worrying about their pets left alone while they are working and have to be away from them. And there are thousands of pets out there suffering from being overweight and obesity that impact their quality of life. I was created to be the perfect combined solution to all these problems. Animal behavior specialists help to develop me every step of the way! A dedicated team of experienced engineers spent two years rigorously working to create me.”

If you’re a dog owner, you’re probably wondering just how quickly your pet would utterly destroy this robot. The creators say its durable FDA-approved polycarbonate material “can withstand any outside pressure or impact,” which sounds like big talk when your 15-pound Boston Terrier can tear up the strongest Kong chew toy in 3.5 seconds. But during performance tests, the robot was strong enough to withstand a 630-pound weight test, well beyond the strongest bite force of the English Mastiff (556 pounds).

And yeah, it’s also water resistant, so you can periodically wash off all the drool. One would imagine that your floors better be clean, too, or it’s just going to track pet fur and lint all over the place. Maybe use it in tandem with a Roomba?

Rechargeable via USB cable, the Varram is now available for $99, which doesn’t include any of the accessories. You can purchase extra rubber tires, two different sizes of treat containers, or a feathery cat toy separately for $7 to $21 each. Buy it at the Varram website or on Amazon.

The post Varram: A Smart Robotic Companion for Your Pet first appeared on Dornob.

Create a custom cat condominium with enough beds and play areas for your feline friends with this adorable modular housingset. Each of the three cubs, the bedroom, gym and recreation area, are available in a range of colors and fit perfectly together either side-by-side or vertically stacked.

‘Kitty Kasa’ offers full-service modular pet housing for as many cats as you’d like. Use just one of each for a single cat, or build your very own cat city if you’re aspiring for crazy cat person status. The ‘gym’ module features a scratching post while the ‘recreation’ module has a hanging mouse to bat around.

Of course, no condo would be complete without a kitchen, dining room and restroom; those three modules will be released later in the year to expand Kitty Kasa into a sculptural portable cat home that can be configured any way you like.

Design firm Studio Mango developed the housing set in collaboration with the ARNI Foundation, a non-profit organization that rescues animals that have been abused, and transfers pets from local kill shelters to no-kill shelters. All proceeds from these products go directly to the foundation.

“Kitty Kasas were born out of a necessity to find functional, durable, modern, stylish, and easily cleanable cat furniture for shelters. (Yes, even shelter cats need a cool place to live!) With the struggle to keep so many cat beds and scratch posts clean and free from fleas and other yuck, shelters really needed something that they could rely on for their hundreds of visitors day in and day out. “

“Fast forward to 20 years of tried and tested product development – Kitty Kasas aren’t just for shelters anymore! Our line of products range from bedrooms, gyms, and recreation, with enhancements and more products being developed. And they’re for our awesome cat-loving customers and their furbabies! Virtually indestructible, cute, easy to assemble, and available in a variety of colors, Kitty Kasas is where it’s at for your cat!”

The post Kitty Kasa: Stackable Modular Housing for Cats first appeared on Dornob.

These digital creatures were fun (and they’ve been revived, if you missed out the first time or just want to revisit Tamagotchi parenthood), but there’s now a way to take that experience to a whole new level. The Lua Smart Planter adds something that’s actually alive to the equation: a houseplant.

If plants do have feelings, we humans haven’t yet figured out how to read them. That’s where the Lua comes in. It uses a host of sensors to trigger 15 different “universal animated emotions” in response to the plant’s current state. More specifically, these sensors measure the soil moisture, light exposure, and temperature. A face on the front of the pot provides useful visual cues as to how well you’re treating your plant “pet.”

When your plant is thirsty, the face opens its mouth wide and sticks out its tongue. When you’ve watered it too much, it looks sick. If its exposure to light isn’t sufficient, it displays a toothy vampire face, while too much light makes it squint. If your plant is too hot, the face takes on a pained expression and starts to sweat. When you’ve made it happy, it smiles.

Other animations reflect your interactions with the Lua, like a puzzled face when it can’t read a QR code or a tired face when it’s going to sleep. The Lua also has a motion-tracking feature, so every time it detects a movement, it actually follows it with its eyes.

Of course, needs like water and light vary depending on the kind of plant you put inside the Lua. The accompanying app lets you choose your plant’s family (like foliage, succulent, fern, flowering plant, or climber), select the exact plant species, or manually set your own preferred thresholds.

For people who aren’t good at taking care of plants, Lua’s immediate feedback in the form of fairly universal facial expressions acts as an effective reminder and removes the guesswork that’s often associated with keeping plants happy. Even seasoned, successful growers of houseplants don’t always know whether a particular plant is drooping or getting brown around the edges due to inadequate light, too much sun, overwatering, or neglect.

The Lua also brings in an element we humans sometimes need in order to relate to other living things: an anthropomorphized personality. Naturally, this makes one wonder how our care for all of the plants on this Earth might change if each one had a face. Even more so, what does the answer to that question say about us?

The Lua Smart Planter recently completed a round of crowdfunding on Indiegogo, with backers expected to receive their pots and accessories in December 2019. That means the product will likely be available to everyone else sometime next year.

The post Turn Your Houseplants into Pets with the Lua Smart Plant Monitor first appeared on Dornob.

If a peekaboo desk with compartments made just for your cat to lounge while you’re working isn’t quite expansive enough for your furry companion, perhaps the CATable 2.0 will do the trick. Cats always seem to want to plant themselves right on top of keyboards, paperwork and anything else that’s competing for our attention, not to mention climbing into luggage, cardboard boxes and any other cozy compartments they can manage to infiltrate, and this cat furniture set satisfies both instincts.

The newest set of modern cat-friendly furniture from LYCS architecture, CATable 2.0 is a modular set of cubic wooden blocks that can be stacked in all sorts of different ways to create a shelving system, room divider, tables and stools. Use one in place of a chair at your desk, or place it on top of your work surface as a tempting cat cubby.

The cubes have curving cut-outs in a variety of sizes and shapes. You could connect them so that the openings line up, creating passageways from one side of the room to the next. While they may be ideally shaped for the lounging comfort of felines, these irregularly-shaped niches could also be used to display all sorts of objects. Even if you’re not a cat owner, arranging the sculptural blocks to create custom furniture is fun, and this set provides all sorts of visual possibilities.

“What’s hidden in your drawers? What kind of books would you put up on your shelf? For the same piece of furniture, we might have a thousand answers out of a thousand people. Compare to the dazzling forms of the furniture, we have a lot more curiosity over these stories behind each one of them, because they are real, subtle and sometimes, dramatic.”

“Last year, we designed CATable 1.0 which provides us with a unique space to share with our kitties. This year, CATable 2.0 is no longer a proper-sized table. It consists of 4 pieces of cubic wooden module in exactly the same size. Each one has a particular path for cat to stroll, and the “remainder” space would be used up to the cat lover’s own need: you can use them directly as stools, or stacking them into tea table, short ark, or even book shelf. You are participating designing your own furniture and creating a unique wonderland for your cat.”

The post CATable: Modern Modular Wooden Furniture for Cats first appeared on Dornob.

The iKuddle Auto-Pack Litter Box keeps your cat’s restroom area tidy with very little maintenance on your part, and unlike the vast majority of litter boxes, it’s attractive enough to leave in a visible location. The iKuddle auto-scoops clumps out of the litter and right into a waste bag contained within itself, freeing you from the need to scoop it up every single day.

You don’t even have to fuss with the waste bags anymore. When they’re full, simply press the auto-packing button on the litter box or the accompanying mobile app, and it’ll pack the waste for you. All you have to do is pull it out of the box and throw it away. As if all that wasn’t enough, the self-cleaning litter box will even load a new bag for you, giving you another seven days of use by a single cat until it’s full again. Plus, a built-in deodorizing system using a carbon filter keeps the space feeling fresh and eliminates 80 to 90 percent of odors.

The iKuddle helps look after your cat’s health, too. Its developers explain: “The sensing system monitors how often your feline friend uses the litter box. You’re able to detect if something is wrong by looking at the data on the app and comparing it to how much waste your cat produces. The sensor [also] detects your cat entering and exiting the box. If your cat hops back in during a cleaning, the unit pauses the cycle automatically.”

“iKuddle’s built-in lithium battery (24V, 2200mAh) lasts for two weeks between charges. It also comes with a charging cable that lets you use iKuddle practically anywhere in your home. Unlike other self-cleaning litter boxes, iKuddle’s detachable components, such as the scooper and litter box enclosure, allow for easy cleaning and maintenance.”

If you’ve ever had a self-cleaning litter box before, you know how loud they can be. Cats that are easily startled tend to be afraid of them, and the last thing you want is for your cat to develop an aversion to their litter box. If you’re concerned about the automatic features scaring your cat, you can always disable the auto-scoop action and just press a button on the side of the litter box or activate the scoop from the iKuddle app when your cat’s in another room.

Unsurprisingly, cat owners are pretty excited about this gadget. Within a week of its crowdfunding debut on Kickstarter, the iKuddle raised $655,000 from over 2,000 backers, and that number just keeps ticking up as the campaign continues. If you’re interested in snagging one for yourself, you better do it quick. By backing the project now, you can get $130 off the final retail price of one iKuddle Auto-Pack Litter Box, among many other rewards.

The post iKuddle: An App-Controlled Self-Cleaning Litter Box for Cats first appeared on Dornob.

Crates can be an essential part of taking care of our dogs, but they’re not exactly aesthetically pleasing. If you had a choice, would you go with the usual wire or plastic crates sold by pet stores or get an enclosure that more easily blends into your decor? Discerning dog owners with modern homes might just go for the Lucidium: a new dog pen that ditches the look of a “cage” in favor of transparent acrylic.

Made by a company called Clearly Loved Pets, the Lucidium dog pen is a clear indoor enclosure that lets you corral your furry friends while maintaining a visual connection with them at all times. This enhanced visibility can be especially helpful if your dog is pregnant, a puppy, a senior, a troublemaker, or recovering from an injury or medical procedure.

Noting that “the use of a cage is becoming increasingly objectionable” for people who consider their pets to be members of their families, Clearly Loved Pets offers a kinder-looking alternative that fits right in to many interior decor styles without any unnecessary features or frills. The Lucidium also allows pet owners to keep their dogs nearby, grant them plenty of space to move around, and provide them with interesting views, to boot.

The company says that they worked hard to develop “a revolutionary new indoor enclosure for small and medium dogs. With clear acrylic walls, our oversized pens provide a generous space while simultaneously decreasing visual clutter. The three size options will comfortably accommodate your pet(s) while you are gone with space for a bed (or two or three), a water bowl, toys, and a pee pad if needed. The appealing aesthetic allows for favorable placement [right] in the heart of your home. Our pens come in a beautiful selection of colors including pink, blue, green, and matches-everything silver.”

“With research confirming what many have long-known, pet owners worldwide are seeking premium products for their multi-species homes. Clearly Loved Pets’ flagship product, our ‘clear’ paneled, oversized dog pen, addresses the need to protect your pet, and your home, while you are away. The design is intended for use in a family room or other central location so your pet does not feel disconnected from the home and family he/she wants to protect. Most importantly, the guilty feeling of ‘caging’ your dog is gone, as you ensure safety with a comfortable, beautiful, relaxing, ‘bedroom’ for your dog(s).”

Of course, if you’re the owner of a larger or particularly rambunctious pup, you might spot one glaring problem with the sleek design of the Lucidium: it doesn’t have a top to keep jumpers in check. It might work for shorter or older large dogs, however. It’s also pretty easy to put together and clean.

It may not work for everyone, but this transparent dog pen seems like a great option for small dogs in particular, who tend to be highly attached to their owners and in need of confinement while they’re out of the house. Some of these pens are even long enough to accommodate beds, bowls, and puppy pads when necessary.

The Lucidium comes in six sizes, starting at 27 inches tall by 48 inches long at the smaller end and going up to 36 inches tall by 72 inches long at the larger end. Prices range from $379 to $599, and it’s available to order through the Clearly Loved Pets website.

The post Clearly Loved: Acrylic Enclosures Keep Dogs Contained and Engaged first appeared on Dornob.

IKEA’s new “LURVIG” range offers a wide selection of fun items made for four-legged family members, and as always, the price is right. Created by pet-loving designers, LURVIG (which means “shaggy” or “hairy” in Swedish) features dozens of products, including beds, tunnels, scratching posts, carriers, leashes, bowls, and toys. But the very best of the offerings might be those designed to fit into key IKEA furniture items like the KALLAX shelving unit.

Highlights of the collection include a KALLAX cat bed insert in black and green ($10.99), so your cat doesn’t have to knock over your books and keepsakes in order to occupy one of the cubbies, and a scratching mat that wraps around just about any table leg ($7.99). The LURVIG cat house ($49.99) also fits into the KALLAX, or you can place it on an included set of legs as an inhabitable nightstand.

In the dog zone, you’ll find a series of simple beds with washable covers, a few fun toys, reflective harnesses ($9.99), a water-resistant blanket ($19.99) to protect surfaces in your home and car from fur and muddy paws, and a host of other items priced well below similar offerings at your local pet store. The pups don’t get quite as many standout products as the cats, however, and there are a few missed opportunities that we hope IKEA will consider producing in the future. Dedicated litter box cabinets that offer concealment and easy access would be nice, after all — as would cat climbing trees and dog houses.

Knowing people already use various IKEA products for their pets even though they’re not marketed that way, IKEA’s promo photos for the LURVIG range nod to the possibility of turning LACK shelves into cat perches and putting cat grass in wall-mounted planters. The new pet-specific products really just augment the creative uses IKEA fans have found for existing items throughout the store.

“I feel that my pets are the ones who can really take me to the present moment,” says designer Inma Bermudéz, who worked on the collection. “Our pets have their own personalities, but they have five things in common: they love sleeping, eating, playing, exercising, and being close to us. So these behaviors have been the first thing on our minds when designing these products. It’s really important to use an animal’s natural needs and behaviors (like how they sleep, eat, or play) as a starting point. Then we can design a product that fits in with our human needs, such as style and form.”

The post IKEA Celebrates Pets’ Places in Our Homes with New Furniture Collection first appeared on Dornob.