Industrial design academy Designer Dot and its student Lee Da-eun invents ‘Dmuse,’ a drying room for cats that reduces the stress of bathing the furry pet experience while providing them with a comfortable and enjoyable drying time. As the designers introduce the smart and home technology, ‘Most cats hate bathing. The box-shaped dry room, which has been used a lot recently for convenience reasons, limits the free activities of pets who are stressed by bathing.’
Since cats do not often bathe, ‘Dmuse’ doubles as a shelter and toy area for them. The clean look of its palette and design makes the object a complementary fixture at home, its matte texture and earthy hue replacing the bleakness of a room. Tailored to the cats’ habits and needs, the designers raised the drying chamber and added an elevated platform for the cats to pad their way up to the alcove.
The designers also installed transparent doors and windows to satiate the cats’ curiosity as they gaze outside, people watching. ‘They prefer to hide in dark, snug spaces, so we also put a small hideout area at the bottom of the dry space. Inside the dry room, a device for playing whack-a-mole was designed so that they could freely engage in indoor activities,’ the designers share.
The design allows the user to control the difficulty level of the whack-a-mole arcade inside the chamber, wind strength, and drying time with the touch-sensitive panel outside the device.
As an industrial design academy, Designer Dot seeks to improve the skills of its students through a one-to-one mentoring system and continuous feedback outside of class, one that Lee Da-eun has experienced that unfolded into the creation of Dmuse. The blueprint forms part of Lee’s project for the design portfolio class.
The Korea-based academy prides itself on offering the knowledge students require even beyond the four walls of their institution and the imposed curriculum. They do so by letting their students be free to tinker with their creativity and explorations, chiming in when the designs need refinement. As they put it, their overall process of industrial design comes through an educational experience.
Dmuse by Designer Dot & Lee Da-eun
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