Cascabel Ceramic Cat Cave

Cascabel is the cave that plays back. The tall stoneware form gives a cat somewhere to hide and climb, and the cords of ceramic bells and raffia-wrapped beads hanging from it swing and chime with every swat, so the shelter doubles as a toy.

It is hand-modeled and high-fired in a satin white glaze, sculptural enough to earn its place in the room and sturdy enough to take a cat's attention.

Each cave is made to order. There is no shelf of finished pieces, yours is modeled and fired for you, glazed inside and out and put through the kiln several times before it is ready. That is what gives it the weight and the surface, and why no two are ever quite alike.

Specifications

• Material: Hand-modeled high-fired stoneware, satin white glaze, with jute, raffia and ceramic bells
• Dimensions: 16.9 x 15 x 23.6 in (43 x 38 x 60 cm), approx. 33 lb (15 kg)
• Made in: Spain, by hand

Made by hand, one piece at a time

Sara Monge is a ceramic artist working in Spain, and every piece here leaves her studio by her own hands. The clay is modeled, then fired at high temperature more than once, until stoneware reaches the hardness and stability it needs to live in a home for years. Because each piece is made individually, small variations from one to the next are part of the work, not a flaw in it.

Function that becomes form

These are objects to be used and to be looked at. A cave is a real shelter a cat disappears into and a sculpture that holds its own beside the furniture. A bowl lifts a meal off the floor and reads as a considered object on the counter. The standard is the same throughout, cat pieces made to the level of studio ceramics.