Loft Living
Dog accessories with a modern aestheticby Scott Rose
© WowBow
Dog-loving loft dwellers and all those with a connoisseurial interest in the intersection of metropolitan style and canines can rejoice! Trendy designers are increasingly producing dogcentric furnishings. Their work evidences a desire to have dog furniture augment rather than detract from the modernity of urban environments. Here we take an in-depth look at this trend, which not only has legs, but in truth has four legs.
Wowbow's soigné bed and dining sets are elegant enough to have been featured in the Italian design magazine Casa da Abitare, the Dutch magazine Zino and on Pampered Puppy. Wowbow founder Kim Bull tells us that the company is involved in an exciting collaboration with designer Bill Amberg that will result in customized models of the "Mija" bed and dining tables. Later this year, stylish collars and leads will be added to the collection, and a new "Loulie" line of dog beds will be introduced. Meanwhile, the "Mija" bed and dining sets with their acrylic frames, faux suede cushions, memory foam and sleek lines are keeping those dogs fortunate enough to recline on them feeling a part of the avant-garde. Wowbow will, additionally, custom-produce a bed to your size specifications. The see-through acrylic bases of the dining sets and beds, available in different shades, make intriguing counterparts to the glass skylights and large windows that typify loft design. www.wowbow.co.uk
© Bowhaus
Bowhaus single handedly advanced the category of dog crates from the wretched frumpy period into the happening loft era with the introduction of its Haus. The beauty of the Haus is that it serves the functions of a dog crate without blighting the modern design of your home. The top of the Haus even doubles as an end table; a space-saving feature of note to those of us with limited living space. With a metallic silver exterior marked by repeating circles, this anti-crate fits the exposed brick, aluminum piping, stylized industrial look of lofts like an elongated pashmina doggie sweater does a dachshund. The den-like quality of the Haus will give comfort to your dog even as the pastelish orange, mocha, chocolate or green interior resting pads will give an added touch of refinement to the color planning of your home's design. www.denhaus.com
Bark Deco hand makes three styles of platform beds, all gracious complements to a modern lifestyle. The company was so concerned by aesthetics that while each of their beds are available in various sizes, all are uniformly seven inches high, to provide for visual symmetry in multi-dog families. The bed styles are named The Chou-Chou, The Elly and The Dino, after three QTs who can be seen on the Bark Deco site. All three styles feature clean, sleek lines; the company will also custom design a bed to precisely match your décor. On the practical side, these beds have ventilated platforms, rubber feet to keep them in place, crypton super fabrics as soft as they are impenetrable, and talalay latex cushions. The color palette available for the cushions is of a piece with urban sophistication: silver, chocolate, champagne and aubergine. The platforms are made of birch hardwood veneered in either zebrawood or wengé. Wengé (pronounced 'When-gay') is a premium African wood that has been popular for loft use; doors, staircases, cabinetry and parquet often employ it. www.barkdeco.com
© Bark Deco
Nothing shouts a modern aesthetic like the platform bed. Thanks to Pluscious, dogs may now enjoy platform beds of their own with styling that will make their humans proud when Architectural Digest pays a visit. The Pluscious platform bed rests a deep, rich brown varnished platform atop modish, aged-aluminum footings with a dark patina. Available in blue, green or light brown, the zippered upholstery velvet covers on the mattress and headboard are removable for hand washing or dry cleaning. Piping on the edges of the pillow and headboard, which has a striking, elegantly modern backwards curve, enhances the contemporary appearance of this platform bed. www.pluscious.com
Urban style hardly gets more four-legged than the Italian-designed Dogsofa. This chic canine couch is a true furniture piece. One of the hallmarks of loft style is the combining of industrial materials with quintessentially luxurious ones; the Dogsofa meets those criteria with its polished steel frame and leather-like coverings. That the Dogsofa unites function, comfort and style further marks it as an urban design divan. A sunken center with a raised border on three sides will make your city prince or princess appear as though chicly enthroned. Small, medium and large sizes are available. The frame may be had in white, black, or aluminum grey, while the removable, washable coverings come in white, gray, black and mustard. You can mix and match the colors to best harmonize with your loft palace. www.dogsofa.it
© Holden Designs
The Venice, California-based Holden Designs was born of the designer Jon Wesley Rahman's desire for a raised dining set that would enhance the visual appeal of a modern living area. The support for the double feeders is an open oblong loop in either walnut or cherry-wood veneer; the buffed, stainless steel bowls with their curvilinear bottoms would be worthy of The Museum of Modern Bark. Holden's single feeder has a two-sided support structure with a gentle, concave visual lilt. The company also offers a striking bed, bow-shaped with modernistic cross-angled legs. The bed's form will likely be most appropriate for smaller dogs. www.holdendesigns.com
Hot off winning the 2005 Outstanding Achievement Award in the How Magazine International Design Competition, the firm Wet Noz offers an appealing collection of loft-appropriate feeders. The bowls, made of surgical-grade stainless steel with rubber accents, are eminently suitable for integration into a loft design scheme. Many of the bowls are hybrid, which is to say they have finger holes at their tops that render them usable as both scoops and feeders. Many of the smaller Wet Noz feeders are uni-species, meaning that the designs are equally auspicious for dogs and cats. The markedly modernistic "L'il Pup Booster" and "Big Pooch Booster" are ergonomic feeders whose proportions were carefully studied to reduce if not eliminate fatigue and discomfort while eating. A countertop treat canister with a heart shaped rubber grip on its lid is so stylish you may be tempted to store your own treats in it, though we do not necessarily approve of people usurping what rightfully belongs to dogs. Several Wet Noz feeder models come in colors associated with cosmopolitan chicness; witness the mint green studio scoop. www.wetnoz.com
© Pet Revolution
Pet Revolution creates several designer dog beds and couches with urban flair. Company representative Christopher Morse says that in designing these items they aimed for products that would be harmoniously integrated into a modern environment. The beds are outfitted with genuine leather specially treated with a waterproofing agent that makes it completely impermeable to odors and moisture. The silvered leather model has a pronounced Space Age appearance. Other leather colorings available include coral, robin's egg blue and black carbon. Zippered coverings of contrasting colors add visual interest to the furniture pieces. The company will custom make a bed covering from the fabric of your choice. As Mr. Morse points out, pinks and blues may have been in last year but if you want chartreuse now there's no reason you shouldn't have it. www.petrevolution.com
Back in 1950, Edgar Kaufmann published a pamphlet addressing the question "What is Modern Design?" He gave a 12-point list of prerequisites to a satisfying modernity, and in so doing he unleashed forces leading to the doggie design explosion of the present day. With the greatest happiness do we perceive that modern design is where it truly belongs; in the doghouse.
