House Cat: Inspirational Interiors and the Elegant Felines Who Call Them Home

by Paul Barbera

Overview

Fancy felines and the beautiful interiors in which they rule.

This is not a book about cats. Nor is it a book on interiors. It is somewhere in-between: a look at how cats and interiors interact, and how cats become a fundamental part of one’s home. Really, it is about how a cat completely takes over their home.

House Cat is a celebration of fifty-seven charismatic cats and the incredible spaces that they nonchalantly wander. From Grace Coddington’s famous felines in their cosmopolitan New York apartment all the way to the farmhouse cat who has no idea that his owner is the great Bunny Williams.

Paul Barbera’s stunning photography transports you from a ninety-one-story-high penthouse above Billionaires' Row straight to a Mexican hacienda-inspired home complete with nine cats. It is the ultimate pairing of enviable abodes and the mischievous cats that call them home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781760764036
Publisher:	Thames & Hudson
Publication date:	01/02/2024
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	391,205
Product dimensions:	9.70(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Paul Barbera is an Australian-born, New York–based lifestyle and interiors photographer. He has shot the studios and homes of architects, designers, and artists around the world, from Tadao Ando and Kengo Kuma to Jonathan Adler and Kelly Wearstler. Employing a minimalist approach, Barbera shoots in natural light and avoids complicated technical arrangements to capture emotional honesty in his subjects. Regularly commissioned throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe, Paul’s work has been published in publications such as Vogue Living, Bon Appétit, the New Yorker, Martha Stewart Living, and Elle Decor. He is also the author of Where They Purr: Inspirational Interiors and the Cats Who Call Them Home.

Editorial Reviews

12/18/2023

This amusing coffee-table book from lifestyle photographer Barbera (Where They Purr) takes a look inside luxury homes through the eyes of the cats who live in them. A three-story Manhattan apartment’s exposed structure is described as “a boundless jungle gym” for Alice, a two-year-old Bengal who “can usually be found balancing on cantilevers” or “tiptoeing on the grill floor of open balconies.” In a baroque Sharon, Conn., house, an American shorthair tabby named Betty (who “wants nothing more than some sunlight and a good scratch, which she demands with raspy meows”) perches on an armchair in a living room decorated with large French mirrors and “Swatow plates salvaged from a shipwreck.” Much of the book’s joy derives from the cats’ apparent indifference to their wildly opulent surroundings. In an apartment in Manhattan’s Financial District, Lady Penelope, a European Burmese, is photographed walking under what appears to be a Sputnik satellite and lying in a sunny spot beneath “a twenty-four metre, adult-sized stainless-steel slide.” Barbera’s skillful photography captures the felines’ personalities and the artful interiors they roam. For instance, an image of a Miami Beach apartment shows a shy Siamese peeking out from behind a seat in a futuristic living room featuring metal wall art and a gold-colored coffee table. Cat lovers will dig this. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"A fascinating look into the lives of cats inhabiting stunning luxury homes... A true feast for the eyes that will delight cat lovers and lovers of architecture and interiors, and you’ll want to visit the featured homes and their cats over and over again."

Purrs of Wisdom

"The ultimate swanky home tour—but with cats on display in every abode... The homes are diverse in style but it's the cats, and the care shown to capturing their distinctive selves and backstories, that really tugs at [the] heart."

BookPage

"Purr-fect."

KCRW DnA: Design and Architecture