Business Profile: Perfectly Beastly, White Plains
White Plains resident Mitch Achiron has been in the graphic design business for years, working for publishing and marketing companies, pushing the edge on quality design and technology. It was not until recently that his talents, while still creative, took on another dimension – that of pet food “interior design” specialist.
As is often the case, necessity becomes the mother of invention.
For Achiron it all began when he renovated his kitchen. From top to bottom, everything was new and fresh, everything except for the feeding area for his beloved boxer Winnie.
“Food and water was in the bowls, on the floor, stuff was everywhere,” Achiron explained. “I just couldn’t have it. Everything was new and I wanted to preserve it, so I set out looking for a mat.”
Acknowledging that he was feeding an animal, prone to making a mess, Achiron began searching the pet stores for the perfect mat. “I tried several,” he said. “After all the effort that went into designing the new kitchen, the designs were ugly, the mats were too small and the absorbent ones became smelly. I couldn’t find anything that did the job well.”
As most creative people will often do, Achiron decided to make his own mat, so to the designing board he went.
“First, I wanted a material that was not absorbent. It had to be large enough to cover a reasonable amount of floor area to contain the feeding mess, and I didn’t want it to move. It had to be skid resistant.” Plus, it had to fit in well with the stylish new kitchen design.
Creating stylish and well-rendered designs, no problem for Achiron. The search for the perfect mat material was another story.
In the age of digital design technology a man’s best friend can often be his or her mouse, along with the perfect mouse pad to go with it. The germ of a solution was right there within hand’s reach with some modifications of course. The mat had to be thicker with larger dimensions than the traditional mouse pad, and the top had to hold the printed design and still deflect fluids. The mouse pad concept became the starting point for the final design.
Achiron’s pet mats are 17-inches high by 22-inches wide. They are 1/8th of an inch thick, with no skid technology on the bottom and fluid resistant on the top. Water wipes right off with a paper towel.
‘The animals just love it,” Achiron claims, and so do their owners apparently.
“Initially I only wanted to make a few for myself, but once I found a supplier and a digital printer who could handle the job, I realized it was more cost-effective to design and print in larger numbers.”
Achiron has made the pet store and trade show circuit and is encouraged enough to begin mass production. He even has some of the larger retailers taking a look.
There are eight different designs created with digital photography and illustration. The colors are bold and clean.
One of the mats, featuring a quizzical cat eyeing a goldfish in a bowl was designed by a colleague’s daughter.
The Perfectly Beastly website is up and running where the different designs can be viewed and purchases made. For those shopping online, the price is $24.95 per mat including shipping.
Visit perfectlybeastly.com.
