About Grooovy Paws
Hi, I'm Val
Certified cat lover and cat mom, based in Belgium. I make disco ball cats by hand, one mirror tile at a time.
The cats are Archie and Buster. They have gone viral more than once over at @valandthecats on TikTok and Instagram, which means two things: I am outnumbered, and they know it.
If you want to see what Archie and Buster get up to when they are not supervising my work, they would love the attention.
Why cats and disco
As a very wise man once said: cats all the time, disco occasionally. Or what was it again? (Harry Styles, if you ever see this: game recognises game.)
A cat walks into a room like it owns the place. A disco ball already turns any room into a party. Put the two together and you get a creature that does both at once, and never screams in your ear to be fed at 5am.
Grooovy Paws started there and has not stopped since.
Everybody gets a space-themed name
Moonboots. Ziggy Stardust. Major Tom. Space Cowboy. Astro Kitten.
There is a system here. Every Disco Cat borrow their name from space: stars, missions, moons or whatever else is drifting around up there. And occasionally a Bowie song or alterego.
I am an Aquarius by the way, which I feel explains most of this. 👽
How I make my Disco Cats
Every single Disco Cat is made by hand, by me, in my studio in Brussels. Nothing is 3D printed, nothing is styrofoam, nothing is ordered from a factory and stickered up. Here is what actually happens.
1. The base. Every cat starts as a solid resin sculpture. Resin, not foam, which is why a disco cat can hold its ground when your real cat decides to headbutt it. They are heavy on purpose.
2. Spray paint. The whole sculpture gets sprayed by hand, so the base colour underneath the tiles suits that particular cat.
3. Tile by tile by tile. This is the long part. Every mirror tile goes on by hand, one at a time, following the curve of the body. Sometimes up to 20,000 individual tiles.
4. Grouting. Once the tiles are on, the whole cat gets grouted so every single tile is locked in place. No magic gets lost when your muggle cat slaps your Disco Cat, no tile goes missing on the way to your house.
5. Buffing. Then I polish. And polish. And polish some more, until the last of the grout haze is gone and the cat throws light across the room the way it is supposed to.
Because of all this, no two are ever identical. Patterns shift, tiles land differently, and small imperfections occur.
The golden butt
Every Disco Cat at Grooovy Paws comes with a golden butt guarantee. Meaning, they'll have a golden detail on their behind. Right where their butt would be.
I was the first to do it and I am still the only one (for now :)). It is the signature at the back of every cat, and it is how you know yours is the real thing. Always check the behind.
PS: Place your Disco Cat on an automatic turning table in direct sunlight, and I PROMISE you it'll be the cat toy of the year. Sparkles, EVERYWHERE!
Why they cost what they cost
A Disco Cat is not cheap and I am not going to pretend otherwise.
Here is where the money goes: the resin sculpture, thousands of mirror tiles, paint, grout, and packaging strong enough to get a mirror-covered object across the country, or a continent, in one piece. Then shipping, most of which I cover myself. Then taxes. Then the fees that come with running a shop.
By the time all of that is paid, I keep less than half of what is on the price tag. The rest of the value is hours, and there are a lot of hours in one cat.
None of this is a complaint. It is just the honest arithmetic behind something handmade, and I would rather show you the maths than let you assume a mirrored cat appears out of nowhere. So that is why my Disco Cats, and all the other ones out there, are pricey.
Sizes, and how to get one
The cats come in different sizes, from kitten to a very tall boy. You can see who is currently around in the shop.
Available now. If a cat is in stock, it is ready to go and I ship within a few days. The wait is packing, not laziness: a sculpture covered in mirror tiles needs to be wrapped like an actual disco ball, and I would rather take the extra day than have one arrive in pieces.
Pre-order rounds. Every so often I open a limited pre-order for a specific type of cat. You reserve yours, I make the batch, and it ships as soon as the batch is finished.
Custom requests. If you have an idea, send it through the contact form with your budget and I will tell you honestly whether I can pull it off. Usually I can.
One more thing
Every time a disco cat sells, I get ridiculously excited and sad at the same time.
Excited that my dear Disco Cat got adopted and found its forever home. Sad because I have to say goodbye to this one-of-a-kind, precious, sparkly being.
But mostly grateful that you choose to buy from a small business.