I’m not a cat owner because that would involve way more sneezing and eye irritation than I’m trying to go through. Still, even I know that a common frustration from those who do own them is how much they can shed.
So it’s impressive enough when somebody manages to make sure their home isn’t blanketed in the stuff. But when somebody actually finds a use for all of that hair, they’re really doing something special.
And one Japanese photographer is doing exactly that special something.
Here we see photographer Ryo Yamazaki with Mugi, one of his Scottish fold cats.
He has two others of the same breed, a white one named Maru and a gray one named Nya.
They’re the reason that Yamazaki lists his other occupation as “fallen fur hat designer” on Instagram.
Yes, that’s right. He makes hats entirely out of the fur that sheds from each of his pets.
Since they’re all different colors, that means he has a bit more of a palette to work with for his creations.
Right off the bat, we can see the level of sophistication and detail Yamazaki can achieve with these hats.
Weaving pet hair together seems hard enough without having to create a recognizable duck figure on top of everything.
The cats always model these hats with varying degrees of confusion.
Although these hats must take a long time, he seems to have a new one for every occasion.
This festive little number, for instance, manages to include fur from each of the three cats thanks to that star on it.
Sometimes, it’s pretty easy to see what his inspirations are.
However, what’s less clear is how he managed to shape all that cat hair into such a well-defined Gundam head. He’d have trouble picking a more complicated hat if he tried.
A lot of Yamazaki’s hats are tied to a specific day, but the occasion here just seems to be Maru’s coronation.
The crown is impressive enough, but the weird little hair curls coming out of the side of it were a nice touch.
Mugi here might not be a big fan of this one, but fans of old-school gaming will be much happier to see it.
Yamazaki made this one in time for the 42nd anniversary of the game Dragon Warrior , just in case you were wondering where you’ve seen that slime before.
Sometimes, it’s just about showing off the pretty patterns that can form when he brings that cats’ fur together.
It seems like Maru is wearing the top of a tower on its head since the swirling colors all lead up to an adorable point.
Ah yes, let’s take a wistful eye back to the days when Nya was a young warthog.
It’s pretty impressive that Yamazaki was able to get the head, the tusks, and the snout right using only three colors.
Getting that hat to stay on must’ve been a challenge too.
Although Yamazaki was celebrating world cat day with this one, he obviously thought a cat-themed cat hat would be a little redundant.
So instead, he decided to deck Maru out with a big, spiky seashell that might look familiar to Pokémon fans.
Sometimes, Yamazaki’s hats seem more like experiments in how tall he can make them than anything.
The bigger they are, the easier it is for a cat to try and shake them off of their heads, after all. That’s how that saying goes, right?
Last Halloween, Yamazaki really decided to work magic.
How fortunate that Maru happened to pick a face that looks appropriately mysterious for this witch hat. It would really wreck the mystique if it was in the middle of yawning or something.
Just because Yamazaki has made his big impression on us with cat hair, that doesn’t mean he can’t appreciate dogs too.
So right before November 1st, Japan’s national Dog Day, he decided to unveil this adorable rendering of a Shiba Inu.
Some of Yamazaki’s creations might be a little tough to figure out for those outside of Japan, but this unmistakable “hat” isn’t one of them.
Still, the red tie helps makes it clear for any of us wondering whether this piece’s similarly to Donald Trump’s hairstyle was intentional.
This one, on the other hand, would have totally sailed over my head if he hadn’t left a clue on his Instagram page.
Mugi’s hat is based on the mascot for the Urawa Red Diamonds. As you might have guessed, they’re a soccer team, and the mascot is supposed to be a “devil dog.”
After making this dapper top hat, Yamazaki took this moment to announce he would be on TV.
Apparently, News Zero in Japan did a story all about him and his “fallen fur hats.” I’m guessing he wanted Nya to look professional for the big appearance.
