Do these giant woollen cat heads look familiar? You might have seen them on the internet lately, but their creator is facing some financial difficulty due to coronavirus. These larger-than-life works of art are the brainchild of Housetsu Sato, who's also the founder of the Japan Wool Art Academy. The school teaches knitting and wool art techniques, including how to make those famously realistic, wearable cat heads.
Both the school and its founder have gone through some turmoil as Sato recently recovered from a serious brainstem hemorrhage. The recovery was just at the start of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, which forced the academy to close for three months, thus putting the entire organisation in financial trouble. Cat lovers and wool enthusiasts can now help keep the Japan Wool Art Academy alive through a crowdfunding campaign – you can even receive one of those iconic cat heads in return for your support.
There’s a range of rewards available, with the highlight being the giant wearable cat heads, which can be yours for a donation of ¥440,000. It may seem like a steep price, but it's actually a sizeable discount from the normal price tag of ¥660,000. If you’d rather not shell out that much but still want to help, the lower-priced reward tiers include autographed art books by Sato (¥3,000) and smaller mementos like a life-sized woollen cat (¥15,000).
So far, the campaign has raised just over ¥1.7 million of its ¥3 million target. If you’d like to help out, you can donate to the fund here. In the meantime, check out the amazing wool art on the academy’s Instagram page.
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