Nekohomu

Nekohōmu (from Japanese Neko, cat and Hōmu, home) is a product created exclusively for cats. The family of cat scratchers Nekohomu are handmade with corrugated cardboard, a recycled and eco-friendly material.

The reasons behind choosing corrugated cardboard as the main material for Nekohōmu scratchers are:

• Cats are crazy about it (hasn’t your cat ever played with a cardboard box?)

• It’s an insulating material, which offers comfort for your cat both in summer and winter 

• Corrugated cardboard allows cats to sharpen their nails, saving the furniture in your home 

• Cardboard allows manufacturing the different Nekohōmu scratchers geometries. 

After preforming multiple tests, we’ve been able to prove that within a short time the Nekohōmu becomes a place to: play, scratch and sleep turning into a real home for our furry friends.

Benefits for the Nekohōmu’s owners (the cats): 

Being able to scratch both the inside and outside of the houses to sharpen their nails, and reduce stress. Getting on the roof to take a nap like lions in the savannah during summer, sleep inside like a real bear during the winter. Mark each and every one of the corners of their scratcher, are some of the never-ending activities that cats can enjoy with their Nekohōmu. 

Benefits for cat owners: 

Nekohōmu is characterized by its elegant design, which is easily integrated within any house, no matter the decoration style. As it is a scratcher for your cat, it integrates style and functionality. 

Besides all of this, cats stop scratching carpets, chairs, tables and furniture… and end up using only the Nekohōmu scratchers.

Creation Process

The Nekohōmu scratchers developed as a personal project for my cat, after noticing that she paid more attention to an empty cardboard box than her traditional scratcher. The problem with any simple cardboard box is that they are ugly, light and after a short time they become a useless object, which you constantly stumble over.  

Due to this I decided to create a home for my cat made of corrugated cardboard, that could serve as both a shelter and a scratcher.

After several prototypes exploring different geometries and sizes, in the end I decided on a house shape with a gabled roof and chimney.

All the prototypes were made at first with reutilised cardboard, manually cut on a cutting table, glued and pressed with heavy objects I had in the workshop.

After making various Nekohōmu, and analysing the time and dedication involved in the creation of a single house, I decided to invest in a die cut, thus industrialising part of the process. It is still artisanal as the gluing and pressing process is still done by hand one by one. The last stage of the manufacture is the implementation of our brand logo.

Design

The aim of the Nekohōmu scratchers is to integrate a scratcher and a home for your cat, with your furniture,no matter its style.

The Nekohōmu scratchers come in different shapes and sizes, big house, small house, bed and scratcher. All the pieces come from the same die cut, therefore making it an extremely sustainable design where the use of the material is maximized, and the ecological impact is minimized because none of the material goes to waste.

The Nekohōmu scratchers are handmade with materials that are produced and elaborated in Valencia, which contribute to local economic development. Also using a recycled material, corrugated cardboard, keeps it eco- friendly

Why Kickstarter

As an industrial designer and cat owner, in the Nekohomu scratchers I found a link between my profession and my love for cats.

This crowd funding is to obtain funds to create new projects, including new manufacturing technologies, the use of new materials and research on new shapes and geometries cats will enjoy.