12-03-15
By Zoe Mendelson, 25, reporting from Mexico City on a true original of an Etsy shop.
Three words: cats wearing underwear.
If, like me, you have been dreaming of and wishing for a one-of-a-kind necklace with a cat-wearing-underwear pendant for years and years, you are in so much luck. The Etsy store Cat Parade by Sam (that’s Brooklyn-based artist Sam Silverman) has many of them in various colors, textures, and patterns. Oh, and there are unicorns, tigers, and horses wearing underwear as well. Dog and panda coming soon.
The shop also features sticker packs and earrings, including a “pig cat” set that you will never be able to explain to your friends. What makes Cat Parade by Sam’s items extra special are the excellent and unexpected color combinations. Dark magenta and light blue? White, turquoise and gold? Somehow it all looks incredibly cool.
On a more serious note, each of these hand-sculpted, hand-painted charms is really a sculpture and a painting: an original piece of art, for an extremely reasonable price. Everything in the store is under $30, but there’s no compromise on the quality. It’s all given the kind of attention to detail—clasps, specific glue types, etc.—required to make jewelry made to last.
I mean, can we just appreciate Etsy and the Internet for a second? We get to connect directly with artists around the world, buy crafts directly from the source and create a mutually beneficial relationship wherein we support the arts and also get original dope swag-art that nobody else has. The world may be going to shit and cellphones might be turning us into lonely goldfish. But access to places like Cat Parade by Sam is one amazing thing about Now that we can be grateful for.
Down with Hello Kitty. Up with underwear pals and original art by a super sick artist with a strong and inexplicably appealing aesthetic. Follow Cat Parade on Instagram at @cat_parade_.