One of the questions I hear most often is: "Why does PRASKA make its furniture from birch plywood, rather than MDF?"
It's a very good question.
I've run a pedigree cattery for many years, and every day I see just how hard cats actually use furniture.
It's that everyday experience that led me to birch plywood from the very start. Not because it's fashionable. Because, over the years, it's simply proved itself the best choice for products I design for cats.
A home with one cat looks nothing like a cattery. Here, furniture is used practically without a break.
Cats jump onto shelves. They climb. They scratch. They play. They sleep. Kittens learn to move across vertical structures. Adult Maine Coons make powerful, dynamic jumps.
After years of watching this, I've learned one thing. The material really does matter.
For years I looked for a material I could trust - one that stands up well to everyday use and stays stable over the long term.
That's why I settled on birch plywood. It's a natural material, light and, at the same time, very strong.
Thanks to its layered structure, it copes well with everyday loads and works brilliantly in furniture that cats use every single day.
Those are exactly the qualities that made it the core material behind PRASKA products.
MDF is a popular material used across many kinds of furniture, and in plenty of applications it works very well.
But I design furniture for cats, and that comes with a completely different set of requirements.
A cat doesn't sit down gently on a shelf. It jumps onto it, often with real force - especially when we're talking about large breeds such as Maine Coons.
So I was looking for the material best suited to furniture that cats use intensively. After years of daily observation, I concluded that, for PRASKA products, birch plywood is the material I can trust.
Even the best plywood isn't enough if a piece is badly designed.
Construction matters enormously. The thickness of each part. Where the fixing points sit. How pieces are joined. The stability of the whole structure.
Over the years I've noticed that a cat senses very quickly when a shelf moves. If it doesn't feel secure, it will often simply stop using it.
That's why, when designing, I put as much weight on construction as on the choice of material.
Every new material goes to my own cattery first.
For weeks, I watch how it behaves in everyday use. I check its durability. How it holds up to intensive use. How it looks after time has passed.
Only then do I decide whether it belongs in the PRASKA range.
One of the things I value most about birch plywood is that it's natural.
Every piece has its own grain pattern. No two shelves are identical. Every product is one of a kind.
I like materials that keep the natural character of wood. They're what makes a piece not just look good, but bring warmth and authenticity into a room.
From the start, I knew PRASKA wouldn't be a brand that reaches for the cheapest option.
I wanted to create products that would stay with cats for many years. That's why I choose materials that have proved themselves in everyday use - materials I trust myself.
Because I know a good piece of cat furniture shouldn't be a purchase for the moment. It should last for years.
After more than 14 years running a cattery, I know one thing. The best test of a material isn't a manufacturer's catalogue. It's everyday life with cats.
That's exactly what confirmed birch plywood was the right choice.
So, since the very start of PRASKA, it's remained the core material we build our furniture from.
In more than 14 years of running a cattery, I've learned that choosing a material is one of the most important decisions in designing furniture for cats.
That's why I'm never guided by price alone. I'm guided by experience.
Every material that goes into a PRASKA product has to pass the most important test first. Everyday life with cats.
Every day, I watch how cats actually use furniture - playing, resting, climbing. It's that everyday experience that convinced me birch plywood best matches the standards I want for PRASKA products. So, since the brand began, it has remained the core material we build our furniture from.
Izabela Praska
Pedigree cat breeder, founder and designer of PRASKA
Because after more than 14 years of daily observation and use in my own cattery, birch plywood has simply proved itself the best material for cat furniture. It's durable, stable, and copes well with intensive use.
No. MDF works well in many kinds of furniture. At PRASKA, though, we chose birch plywood, because in our products and years of observation it better met the demands of furniture built for cats.
Yes. Every new material goes to my own cattery first, where I watch how it behaves in everyday use for weeks. Only once testing is complete do I decide whether to use it.
Birch plywood is a natural material. Every sheet has its own grain pattern, so no two products are identical. It's one of the things that makes every PRASKA piece one of a kind.
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