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BAST: Cat Furniture Inspired by Egyptian Mythology

Cat furniture has come a long way in the last few years, thanks to designers adding a level of design to its necessary function. The latest to put their hat in the ring is Dafit Ashari, of Bali-based design firm Studio Tropis, who designed BAST Cat Furniture for the 9 Lives Design Show at Singapore Design Week 2017.

BAST came about after researching cat behavior and learning that they often seek safe places to hide, they love to scratch to relieve stress and sharpen their nails, and they like to climb to watch their surroundings. Along with learning this info about cats, Ashari was also inspired by Egyptian mythology, and specifically, Bastet, the goddess with the head of a cat.

To begin, they looked again to Egypt for inspiration and decided to incorporate pyramids into the design by having two of them in opposing positions, with one upside down, to reflect the two sides of a cat – wild and tame. Then, they added the various scratching elements and structure for a cat to climb.

Overall, they kept the size fairly compact since most people don’t have tons of extra space.

Photos by Barnie Leow.

Caroline Williamson is Editor-in-Chief of Design Milk. She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and can usually be found searching for vintage wares, doing New York Times crossword puzzles in pen, or reworking playlists on Spotify.