At JG SWITZER, we believe that the most beautiful things are often found in nature. Whether we’re attempting to mimic Mother Nature or not, our fabrics often remind us of the patterns and textures we see in stone, in rippling water, and on… cats! In this case, the inspiration came directly from nature. 

Say hello to Bengal — our latest felted wool textile, born from our admiration of nature, curiosity, and yes… a bit of wild feline flair.

From House Cat to High Design: The Inspiration Behind Bengal

This isn’t the first time we’ve created a product in celebration of a cat (believe it or not). Our first wool cat mats were inspired by our own trio: a Tuxedo and a pair of brother/sister Grey Tabby’s. The Marmalade cat mat came later in honor of the orange cats. Trust us when we say that orange cat owners are VERY persuasive. From Shetland Cloud tones to charcoal stripes, each cat type gave us a color story, a texture reference, a feeling.

But we wanted to go BOLDER.

The making of our new Bengal fabric is a labor of love. Each spot is designed and placed by hand, with two types of wool creating the multicolored spots that are then hand felted before going through Luna. For those of you who are new here, “Luna” is the name we’ve given to our industrial needle punch felting machine (if you had to say and write  “industrial needle punch felting machine”, you’d give her a nickname too).

Whether it’s our heritage felted wool pillows or a new textile for our beloved pets, the joy of MAKING is always at the center of what we do.

Follow our journey in the workshop as we create our new felted wool fabric: Bengal.