TravertineItalian sedimentary stone

Open-pored limestone, honed rather than polished so the surface keeps its texture. It is heavy enough that a bowl does not travel across the floor while an animal eats. It takes a mark and keeps it, which is the point.

Portoro marbleQuarried in Liguria

Black stone with gold veining, cut from the Ligurian quarries on the Italian coast. No two pieces carry the same vein pattern. Sealed food-safe and finished on a turned foot.

Solid oakStructural hardwood

Turned into pedestals and bases where a piece has to carry weight and stay level. Chosen over engineered board because oak can be sanded, refinished and repaired decades after it is bought.

RubberwoodPlantation hardwood

A dense, close-grained hardwood harvested from trees at the end of their latex-producing life, so the timber is a by-product of an existing crop rather than a reason to fell a forest.

Japanese sisalNatural plant fiber

Tightly wound natural fiber on every scratching surface. Cats work it vertically the way they would work bark, and it wears down slowly and evenly instead of shedding in sheets the way carpet does.

Glazed stonewareHigh-fired ceramic

Fired dense enough to be non-porous, so it does not hold odor or bacteria between meals. The reactive glaze pools differently on every piece, which means the pair you receive is not identical to any other pair.