Artist Livia Fălcaru’s Casetify Collection Is the Cat’s Meow
Turn your phone into a work of (her) art.
Bucharest-based artist Livia Fălcaruopens in a new tab has done a lot of cool collaborations in her time — from Refinery29opens in a new tab and Vansopens in a new tab to World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Absolut Vodka — but her latest, with Casetifyopens in a new tab, may be her best yet.
“I wanted to create a series of bold, colorful accessories featuring some of my most beloved illustrations,” she wrote on Instagram when announcing the collaboration, which includes cases for the iPhone 14 Pro, Galaxy S22 Ultra, Galaxy Z Flip 4, AirPods Pro, MacBook Pro 14”, and a trio of magnetic wireless chargers. And, like most of Fălcaru’s art, a large portion of the collection is thoroughly catted out.
Fălcaru has three cats: white cats Lily and Igor and a black cat, Ida, all of them rescues, but she wouldn’t necessarily call herself a cat person. “I love all animals,” she told The Wildestopens in a new tab in 2021. “And my dream, since I was little, has been to become rich and open pet shelters in my country, where animals don’t have legal rights and are still treated poorly.”
Still, cats do hold a special place in her heart and are a source of constant inspiration, finding their way into almost everything she creates. “Throwing in a cat is something that comes naturally now when I make an illustration...I simply like the idea of cats.”
Cats are also a source of tremendous comfort to Fălcaru, whose colorful, playful designs often belie darker themes bubbling just under the surface. “[Art is] my way of getting out the bad stuff, but in a constructive way,” she wrote on her blogopens in a new tab in 2022. Growing up poor in post-communist Romania, her early life was full of trauma. “From six years old, I [was beaten] and humiliated on a daily basis at school [by my teachers]. It was normal, sometimes even encouraged by the parents. They pulled our hair, slapped us, beat us with our school books, and threw chalk at us.”
In this toxic environment, Fălcaru struggled emotionally and academically, but her art skills still managed to shine through. “In kindergarten and primary school, teachers would usually use my drawings as examples for the rest of the class,” she wrote on her blog, and by the fourth grade she was doing her classmates’ art homework in exchange for their pocket money.
When she was a teen, she bought her first tablet and started experimenting with a pirated version of Photoshop — retouching photos of the deceased for her family’s funeral business when she wasn’t busy creating work of her own. “I’ve never actually had a real 9-to-5 job,” she says. “Or any kind of job, really, besides what I’m doing today.”
Fălcaru sees her Casetify collaboration as a collection of mini art objects. “One of the most present things in our life right now is technology,” she says. “So, it makes perfect sense to make it as pretty and eye-candy as we can! Our devices have become more like statement pieces, where we can express who we are or what we like. […] Hopefully this splash of color will make your everyday life a bit better.”
And, of course, cattier.
