New York Times Article Recap

Yesterday’s article in The New York Times included photos and references to tons of cat products and other fun cat-related things. I’ve received lots of email asking about everything, so I thought I’d create a little guide to the items featured. Here’s some more info about each item and where you can purchase.

The article included a beautiful photo of my black cat, Ando, sitting in the Curvynest cat tree designed by Catswall Design. The Curvynest recently became available in the US through woofcenter.com. The Wave Cat Perches from Urban Pet Haus hang in my living room and are usually occupied by one or two cats. They are available on Amazon and from UrbanPetHaus.com. The vertical cardboard cat scratcher is the Scratch Tower, an original Hauspanther design available from the Hauspanther online shop. The Hepper Pod Bed is also a favorite, available from Hepper.com. And the beautiful Acacia Cat Tree from my friends over at Square Cat Habitat was also highlighted.

The Cuna Crocheted Cotton Cat Bed, designed and handmade by Gerda Lobo exclusively for Hauspanther, is shown with a big pile of toys, also from our own exclusive line. All are available in the Hauspanther online shop. The photo of me in the slide show sitting on my dressers shows my cat Simba curled up in the original Cat Ball, another favorite.

Sylvia, my little Tuxedo cat, is pictured on a cat climbing tower made with the Ikea Stolmen pole and shelves from ContempoCat. You can also see the wall climbing shelves from ContempoCat in my office leading from the desk to the cabinets above. Mackenzie is curled up on the dining room table in the Cat’s Contour Ceramic Cat Bed from Little Cat Design, his favorite place to hang out. Other items featured in the print edition and the online slide show include the PetFusion Cat Scratch Lounge, the Big Baby Comfort Lounge from Brawny Cat, the Kittyblock, and the original Catpods scratcher and hideaway.

The article highlighted a few of my favorite toys. Da Bird feather toy is a hit with just about every cat, causing “complete freakout madness”. I’m pictured in my office playing with the cats using a Neko Flies wand toy. And Ando is pictured stalking two dangling fish toys on a wand from Design 4 Paws.

I’m wearing some fun cat jewelry in the photos. The necklace is one of my favorites, the Outlaw Kitty pendant by Watto. That’s available from the Watto Etsy shop. You can also get Outlaw Kitty on other items including earrings, belt buckles, money clips, wall hooks, and keychains. The cat cameo ring I’m wearing is similar to this one from Etsy seller Pretty Betty.

People have been asking about the art shown in the photos. The portrait of Mackenzie was created by AllPopArt.com, a service that will make really cool art from your photo. Mackienzie’s portrait was done in the geometric style.

The artwork hanging over my desk in the office is a little hard to see in the photos, but these are three of my favorites. Jamie Shelman of The Dancing Cat did a custom print for me using her awesome cat alphabet. CZM, aka El Gato Gomez, made a custom portrait of my cats, way back when I only had six! And the blue kitty on the right is Krasner Kitty by the fabulous Matte Stephens.

And finally, the giant portrait of the fluffy white cat sitting on a chocolate chaise that hangs over the yellow sofa is actually at my design studio in downtown Phoenix. I think it is absolutely hilarious! My vet actually gave it to me because it was hanging in her office and it was scaring the cats. It is a Letterman, and I’ve actually seen a handful of others exactly like it. These sofa paintings were mass produced in the 1970s and available relatively inexpensively. I found this on theanswerbank.co.uk:

The typical “Letterman” painting is not a painting at all. Most of them were manufactured (using a silkscreen-like process) in the Far East during the 1970s and sold at JC Penney for a retail price of $150 to $400 dollars.

The original artist was typically a “company man” or woman and therefore not acknowledged. They were contract or salary employees whose work-product remained property of the company they worked for.

Their work was copied much like a computer graphics image is copied to create T-shirts using multi-colored passes and a silk-screen pattern.

The “signature” is typically blocked style with the lower (horizontal) portion of the L extended.

If you’re a collector of “That 70’s Show” paintings.. then these might have some nostaligic value. 🙂 but otherwise, they are simply quality (cleanable) oil prints that are hard to find at a reasonable price today.

The canvas is usually medium to good quality and the frames are lower quality (soft) wood and almost always painted and sometimes trimmed with plastic/metallics as well.

I hope you found this recap helpful. Please do let me know if you have questions about any of these items, or anything else you see on Hauspanther!