Furniture gets a whiskered twist with Mario Arbore, a Melbourne-based architect, who designs luxury living for pampered housecats. A cat’s condo is his castle in the world of Arbore, who has combined his architectural skills with his artistic talents to create an entire line of feline furnishings, from cat towers and trees to multi-level cat condominiums.
After earning a Bachelor of Architecture from Syracuse University in 1991, Arbore started his own practice for residential and commercial projects. He moved to Florida in 2011, and in 2014 officially opened Square Paws, a workshop and online store offering a fanciful cat furniture collection that is equal parts functional and aesthetically pleasing.
Arbore explains that the name Square Paws is a nod to the all-important architectural term “square feet,” which he notes is an important factor in his former hometown of Queens, N.Y., where space is at a premium, especially with condos and co-ops.
Given the artist’s desire to lavish kitties with luxurious sanctuaries, cats’ comfort is paramount in Arbore’s creations, all of which are made in the USA. He sources materials from local partners in Palm Bay and other neighboring communities, and his clients can choose their preferred materials, which usually means solid wood.
“I don’t like MDF, engineered wood,” says Arbore. “I use nylon to create high-quality, stain-resistant carpets and long-lasting latex paint for the finishes.”
However, he explains that he switches up the materials for public location commissions, such as shelters, where he uses a more durable oil-based paint.
An Italian American who grew up on Long Island, Arbore is a cat dad of four and brings his passion for feline freedom to his own pets. The fluffy foursome has many designs from which to choose in his home.
His brood includes a “foster fail” named Sophia named after the Italian actress Sophia Loren. There’s also Bella the black cat, a male cat named Ciccio, and a Himalayan named Lana, the Italian word for wool.
“There are a lot of prototypes in my house!” he says with a laugh. “My cats fluctuate between different things. They love the five-story lighthouse and flowerpots.”
Arbore’s diverse furniture selection is likely to make even the most finicky feline purr. For the fancy cat, there’s the Catbernet, a cat tower shaped like a glass of red wine. For more active kitties there is the MusiCat, a towering scratching post framed by a scratchable set of drums and a guitar.
For multi-cat households there is the Double Love Cat Tower, featuring two cushioned heart-shaped seats of different heights, and a Royal Throne, where the alpha cat can take top billing and look down on her royal subjects. There’s even a stackable Catmas tree, complete with lights, meant to, hopefully, keep mischievous kitties away from the real thing.
International landmarks have also infused inspiration into Arbore’s work. Although cats notoriously hate traveling, furry friends can easily be transported to medieval Florence with Pawnte Vecchio, a replica of the famous stone arch bridge, that kitties can traverse to their heart’s content.
The artistic creations are intended to benefit people as well, designed as colorful works that are appealing conversation pieces for anyone who visits. At the same time, they double as toys, scratching posts, even puzzles for the cats. By keeping kitties engaged, they are less likely to decorate your new couch with claw marks or scratch up a favorite mahogany table with teeth marks.
Among the architects he admires, Arbore cites the bold postmodernist Frank Gehry as well as Le Corbusier, a Swiss-French architectural designer regarded as one of the pioneers in modern architecture.
But given that Arbore’s niche work is so unique, he says he doesn’t feel strongly influenced by any one architect. Rather, he is more focused on designing decorative pieces that blend well with other furnishings in a client’s home.
Indeed, his pieces are large-scale installations that feature prominently in any given room, which is one reason why he gives his clients the freedom to customize.
“Whether the piece is serious or humorous, when it’s in someone’s home it has to fit their style. It sounds odd, but I don’t want my pieces to look like an architect designed them. I want both the people and the cats to enjoy the furniture,” Arbore explains.
“Right now I’m working for clients in Vero Beach, a recently retired airline pilot and her husband who’s also a pilot. The project is two airplanes where their cats can sit side by side. The clients are in the process of choosing their colors.”
Arbore pledges 10 percent of his profits to animal charities, and has participated in events throughout Florida, including the Space Cats convention in Cocoa, and Paws in the Park in Orlando, which raised over $200,000 for pets this year.
Outside of Florida, Arbore has collaborated with Mission Meow in New Jersey that provides grants to various feline organizations, and in 2024 he designed two rooms for the Pasadena Humane Society in California.
Additionally, Arbore worked with cat lovers Beth and Howard Stern and joined forces with them along with Billy Joel in creating soothing “catios” at the North Shore Animal League on Long Island.
He even expanded his repertoire to considerably bigger cats, designing spaces to give rehabilitated Bengals and other felines room to roam at the Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone, Minn.
Photos provided
