Meet the Woman Making Tiny Sofas for New York Bodega Cats

A Williamsburg bodega cat gets custom furniture, built around his spine.

Bodega Cats of New York, Williamsburg Brooklyn

Tiger sits in the front window of his bodega in Williamsburg. Scottish fold, folded ears, round face, the look of a cat who has already heard your question and decided not to answer it.

We've written about him before. Chiku brought him in for the mice. Tiger did not do much about the mice. He became the cat in the window instead, the one people stop for from the sidewalk.

Over time the window filled in around him: a gray bed, a purple toy mouse, a couple of plants, a small orange tiger figurine set behind him, facing the same glass.

Last week it got furniture.

The couch came from Daralyn Kelleher, who makes furniture for cats and posts it as @daralynandthesofas. That's the short version. The longer one is better.

Before the sofas, Daralyn did stand-up and acting, first in New York, then Los Angeles. When the pandemic furloughed her, she started teaching herself woodworking and filmed the whole thing on YouTube, mistakes included. She'd also spent time in cat rescue, with Luxe Paws. Eventually the two interests ran into each other, and she started building small couches for cats. One of them ended up with Mayim Bialik.

These are not foam beds shaped vaguely like couches. She explains it herself in the video.

"I make the shape of the sofa to work with the cat's spine," she says, setting the teal couch down. "See how they know? They just curl up their little bodies. Just in the shape of a chair."

Then Tiger tests it.

"He got in the second we put this couch down," she says. A pause. "Well, it wasn't the second he got in." Another pause. "It was the third second."

He tucks into the corner, hangs his paws over the front, and stays. The couch, she points out, is conveniently located next to the lint rollers.

For anyone who's followed Tiger, the whole thing tracks. He came for a job, was not good at the job, and the store rearranged itself around him anyway. First a bed. Then toys. Then plants. Now a woman shows up from across the city with a piece of custom furniture built around his spine.

At the end of the video, someone asks what she's doing next.

"Make another cat sofa."

We'll keep an eye out for who gets it.

Follow Daralyn: @daralynandthesofas, instagram.com/daralynandthesofas.

More Tiger: Tiger: In the Window.