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About 10 years ago, Ebenezer Satyaraj’s then two-year-old daughter returned home from a playdate with a friend. Satyaraj quickly noticed something was wrong. It turned out that his daughter had spent the afternoon playing with her friend’s new cat, and a visit to the pediatrician confirmed that she was sensitive to cat allergens.

She’s not alone. Research indicates that approximately one in five people is sensitive to cat allergens. A recent study by the Human Animal Bond Research Institute shows that many of those people nonetheless love cats and would gladly have them in their households if not for their sensitivities. Others are already cat owners but have significantly changed their lifestyle in order to accommodate their pet. Those changes often include spending less time with their cat or keeping the cat away from certain parts of the house, all of which takes a toll on bonding with their pets.

But unlike most people who have to deal with allergen sensitivities in their family, Satyaraj was in a position to do something about it. He’s an immunologist who serves as the director of molecular nutrition for the pet food company Purina, and his daughter’s situation got him thinking: Most previous attempts to address the problem had involved treating the allergen-sensitive humans with medication or immunotherapy. But what if Satyaraj took a different approach? What if he could neutralize the allergen starting with the pet?

The result is Purina Pro Plan LiveClear, an innovative new dry cat food that reduces allergens within the cat hair and dander and thereby holds the potential promise of a happier life for people with allergen sensitivities.

“Our approach really changes the paradigm, because we are addressing the allergen at its source,” Satyaraj says. “It doesn’t add any additional chores for the pet owner. All they need to do is to feed the pet this diet.”

LIGHTENING YOUR ALLERGEN LOAD

Pro Plan LiveClear, which has been tested for safety and palatability, took nearly a decade to develop, but the idea behind it is surprisingly simple. Cats produce a protein, called Fel d 1, in their saliva. This protein, which is transmitted to cats’ hair and dander when they groom, is what 95% of cat-sensitive people respond to. Pro Plan LiveClear includes a specific protein derived from chicken eggs that binds to Fel d 1 and neutralizes it, and it was shown to safely reduce the allergen levels in cat hair and dander by an average of 47% beginning in the third week of daily feeding.

Forty-seven percent may not sound like much—it’s less than half, right? But for most, it’s enough to make a big difference. “Everyone has what’s called an allergen load,” Satyaraj says. “Think of it as a bucket into which you start adding more and more allergens. At some point that bucket will overflow—that’s the point where the person starts having a response. We don’t need to drain the bucket completely. We just need to keep the level of allergens below that overflow threshold.” That’s why Pro Plan LiveClear’s 47% average Fel d 1 reduction is so significant—it should help keep people’s allergen “buckets” at a manageable level.

THE SCIENCE OF KIBBLE

Purina may not be the first name that comes to mind when people think of tech- or innovation-driven brands, but the company, which was founded in 1894, has a long history of harnessing science to improve pets’ lives. “It’s often surprising to the average pet owner to hear about the amount of rigor and science that goes into the kibble that you pour into your pet’s bowl each day,” says Kurt Venator, Purina’s chief veterinary officer, who consulted on the Pro Plan LiveClear project. “But everything we do at Purina is grounded in science and in what I call evidence-based practice. That helps bring a little context into why this nutritional approach to manage cat allergens is such an innovative, first-of-its-kind breakthrough.”

“This product is a really good example of one of the mantras our researchers are tasked with, which is to imagine the impossible,” adds Lizzie Parker, head of the Purina Institute, which serves as the voice of Purina’s science endeavors. “When you have that level of freedom from a research perspective, that’s how we can deliver some of the things that we do.”

That mandate to imagine the impossible may have a warm, cuddly payoff for Satyaraj’s daughter, who’s now 12 and is urging the family to get a cat for Christmas. “That’s the unique honor—a privilege, I would say—of bringing something like this to the marketplace,” Satyaraj says. “People look at scientific success in terms of publication, and sure, that’s important. But it’s nothing compared to being able to say, ‘Hey, this has made a difference in people’s lives,’ because they’re now able to enjoy their cat even more.” Or, for people like his daughter, possibly for the first time.

About the author

FastCo Works is Fast Company's branded content studio. Advertisers commission us to consult on projects, as well as to create content and video on their behalf.

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It is a paradox of the Great Depression: When life was at its most bleak, the plates and glasses people used were at their most cheerful.

With demand for expensive glassware falling in the 1930s, glassmakers across the Ohio River Valley faced bankruptcy. Their solution was to begin mass-producing inexpensive patterned glass for the few people who were buying—and for other businesses to give away as freebies to reward loyal customers. To liven up this cheap glass, they began infusing it with playful colors: pink, yellow, aquamarine, and more. Today, this once-disposable glass is coveted among collectors. And its candy-colored palette has inspired a new set of glassmakers to inject their more high-end wares with vibrancy at a time when our economic prospects are again shaky.

If the idea of spending 2021 looking through rose-colored wineglasses delights you, here are some options.

Stephanie Summerson Hall’s colorful, handblown glassware brand was inspired by the antiquing trips she used to take with her grandmother. Hall even named the company after her grandmother: Estelle Colored Glass. Hall was a D.C. lawyer before she moved her young family to Charleston, South Carolina, in pursuit of a slower-paced life. While nesting in her new home, she spotted a gap in the market for elevated, single-source glassware that resembled the vintage colored sets she and Estelle had loved.

Five years later, after Hall partnered with a 100-year-old company in Poland to produce her pieces, Estelle Colored Glass launched in October 2019. The handblown collection—which ranges from elegant stemware to coup-shaped cake stands to deco-influenced decanters—comes in jewel tones and pastels drawn from Hall’s coloring box: Her Rose shade is inspired by a 2005 Gucci dress, and the brand’s most popular color, Cobalt Blue, is borrowed from a vintage sofa.

The company has seen tremendous growth since launch, gaining more than 100,000 followers on Instagram since the start of quarantine, despite home entertaining being at a low. “Glassware is obviously not essential,” Hall said, “but we’re so grateful our customers are still making these pieces part of their collections at home.”

New York designer Sophie Lou Jacobsen’s sweetly sculptured and grooved glassware is not meant to be tucked into a cabinet—it’s made to be displayed. From her tall and squat pitchers adorned with dainty wave handles to her exquisitely symmetrical Ripple Glass, Jacobsen’s line is both delightful and multifunctional. A vase! A votive holder! A change jar! An excuse for that second pour of wine! Whatever! In contrasting retro shades—such as rich amber and pale jade—Jacobsen’s collection is made with sturdy, dishwasher-safe borosilicate glass, so you can sip and display with abandon.

In a next act so perfect you’d think it was a Nancy Meyers movie, founder Cheryl Saban transitioned a lifetime of philanthropy and activism to add a new passion: molten, hot glass. Each brightly colored, blown piece of Saban Glass features unique textures, swirls, and patterns and is completely one of a kind. And every purchase sends a portion of sales to Baby2Baby, a nonprofit that provides support to children and families living in poverty.

The tumblers, carafes, and wineglasses from R+D Lab come in deliciously fruity and earthy shades. The handblown borosilicate glass pieces are made in Italy and are as functional as they are beautiful—durable enough for every day but so stunning you’ll think you should save them for special occasions. (Nah, live a little!) We love the ribbed and slender Luisa drinkware that not only looks chic, but provides good grip for those three-glass nights.

Finger-food covers

Who wants to risk licking fingers during a pandemic, especially when they taste like hand sanitizer? (Amazon, $16.50)

Beer can coats

Who says you can’t dress up a beer? Clip an old sock to add a nice toque for your Molson, eh? (Uncommon Goods, installment plan available! $13)

Potty putter

Because nobody should have to settle for a crappy short game. (Amazon, $14.65)

Covid earrings

What better way to say “I don’t love you” than with these airborne baubles, life-size replicas (pretty sure) of the coronavirus? (Etsy, $62)

Fancy ping-pong set

You might consider refashioning this Louis Vuitton paddle cover into a sporty clutch or wineskin for your Côte de Nuits. (Louis Vuitton, $2,400)

Dog pillow

We’ve yet to meet the hound that doesn’t relish being tortured by having something hideous attached to its head. (Between Two Naps, $550)

About the author

Jay Woodruff is a contributing editor at Fast Company. After helping launch the quarterly DoubleTake, he joined Esquire and later held senior editorial positions at Entertainment Weekly and oversaw digital at Maxim, Blender and Stuff

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New York’s new hottest club is . . . your living room. No, really. With more than bitter cold keeping us indoors for the next “who knows!” months, our at-home entertainment options are dwindling.

Unforeseen boredom is what led Piecework Puzzles cofounder Rachel Hochhauser to dive headfirst into the world of jigsaw, when she found herself with a closet full of old puzzles and without reception while on a trip to Yosemite a few years ago. A few months later, when she and cofounder Jena Wolfe left on a getaway, Wolfe says she was surprised when Hochhauser whipped out a puzzle for fun. “We just started talking about how there were no puzzles that spoke to our aesthetic,” said Hochhauser. “No puzzles we’d want to gift to someone or show up for a weekend with or put on our coffee table for display because it takes weeks to finish.” 

The two partners at Major Studio naturally turned to designing their own stylish puzzles, which are branded down to curated Spotify playlists and shelfie-ready packaging. Piecework Puzzles feature hyper-saturated, kitsch-core photography, depicting scenes from a good night out for an even better night in.

Hochhauser describes the puzzles as meditative products for the modern age. “I can unplug when I have a puzzle in front of me,” she says. “They have this duality about them. You can work on them with people over cocktails or after a dinner party, but they’re also something you can do alone, to transition from your day to personal time.”

Piecework isn’t the only one in on the fun: unusual, fantastical, just plain beautiful (and maybe a little bit frustrating) puzzles are aplenty this year. We still believe puzzles make a strong gift this holiday season, but stocking your shelves with ones for yourself doesn’t seem like a bad idea either. Here are some of our faves.

Let’s face it: You’re spending New Year’s Eve at home. That’s okay, so is everyone else. (Right??) But even if your holiday season doesn’t feature IRL parties, you can still offer virtual toasts to friends and family. And why not make them a little more special than usual? These stylish, direct-to-consumer beverage makers and curators have giftable, ready-to-ship bottles that look as good as they taste.

And no one needs to leave the house. We’ll raise a glass to that.

Haus

I didn’t expect to like Haus’s aperitifs as much as I did. But I took one sip of Peach Passionfruit before an expletive slipped out of my mouth as, “Earmuffs, that’s delicious.” It tastes the way your high school self tried to convince you wine coolers were supposed to taste. It’s sweet and fruity but goes down smooth without being cloying or resulting in a sugar-crash hangover. Launched by third-generation winemakers Helena Price Hambrecht and her husband, Woody, Haus’s aperitif family has grown to seven different flavors, including Lemon Lavender, Ginger Yuzu, and Spiced Cherry, each ringing in between 18 and 20% ABV. 

“The great thing about Haus, and apéritifs in general, is they’re so complex on their own that you can pour them straight into a glass and feel like you’re drinking a $20 bar cocktail,” says Hambrecht. 

Haus is very drinkable on its own, but it tastes even better as a spritz, with soda water and a Prosecco float. But a super chilled Spiced Cherry and Coke or Bitter Clove with cider are likely fantasies I will explore in the coming weeks. Hambrecht’s inclinations are seasonal: “This winter, for instance, I’m drinking Spiced Cherry on the rocks or mixing it with tonic,” she says. “Woody likes to mix it with a splash of premium whiskey like Whistlepig. By summertime, I’m making slushies with Peach Passionfruit or mixing Rose Rosé with lemonade.”

Ghia

Ghia’s nonalcoholic apéritif is stirringly peculiar. At the first sip, it’s easy to place the tart citrus from Japanese Yuzu, but it’s the curious herbaceous finish that is difficult to describe. It tastes like a traditional apéritif—botanical and bitter—but so vibrant and bright you’d swear it was freshly squeezed. 

“We tried to create a flavor that travels through your mouth, it’s very different than a lot of nonalcoholic drinks. They’re often one note with a spike in sugar. We used oil-based extracts and fresh juices so you have different tasting notes,” explains Ghia founder Melanie Masarin. The L.A.-based entrepreneur is a former financial analyst-turned-experiential-space-expert, with leadership roles at Dig Inn and Glossier.

Like many sober and sober curious, Masarin found herself missing the ritual of drinking while dining with friends. She cites apéritifs as a symbolic pre-dinner foundation while growing up in France, and decided to create an all-natural beverage that tastes nuanced and measured—without the nastier side effects of alcohol. 

“We wanted something that would prepare your palette. It’s not overly sweet. It’s not a mocktail,” says Masarin. “Mocktail has a joke in its name,  like it’s a lesser version. Can we just call them zero-proof cocktails?”

I drank my Ghia 1:1 with soda water. It’s easy-sipping while on a Zoom call with friends and tastes just as indulgent as a high-end cocktail from the bars I sorely miss. Masarin takes hers with Topo Chico, and if she’s feeling fancy, she’ll give it a shake with ice and a sprig of rosemary or mint. “I wanted to make a drink that takes out the intimidation of making a cocktail yourself,” adds Masarin. “It’s hard to mess it up.”

Winc

A good friend who adores the “sweetest white wine you can buy” recommended Winc wine club a few months into quarantine. Following her subscription on-boarding (rather, the Palate Profile Quiz), she was sent three wines she absolutely loved, followed by three more the next month. With a taste assessment, Winc offers an ever-rotating selection of full bottles (memberships start at three bottles a month) that you can easily override should you see something else that catches your eye. And don’t worry: There’s plenty on offer for people who detest sweet wine wines.

I went with two of Winc’s recommendations, and two wild cards of my own—all fabulous. It’s fun to parse through the wine club’s vast library, which can be sorted into “vegan,” “sustainable,” and “low sulfur” categories, in addition to flavors and profiles. (Including sweetness.) Subscribers receive special discounts on Winc wines and other perks, but nonmembers can also purchase à la carte with a three-bottle minimum.

Usual

Usual‘s beaker bottles of wine are just as exquisitely uncomplicated as your favorite restaurant’s house wines: Red, Brut, Rosé, and Brut Rosé. They are super-clean, small-batch, and single-serving. Each California-born bottle features enough for a generous pour and is intentionally cork-less, topped with a metal cap, so it can be consumed right out of the bottle. There’s also the Usual Spritz, a blend of guava juice and a Brut—a low-cal, low-sugar beverage that’s so refreshing you won’t believe it came out of a can.

In Good Taste

It’s hard to resist the well-designed labels of In Good Taste’s wine flights. Each pack features eight 187ml portions plucked from boutique winemakers with themes such as family vineyards of the California coast. Your group order can also be coordinated to include a complimentary virtual tasting, which means you can walk your gift recipients through their selections with tips on how to buy better bottles at the grocery store and, naturally, some wine trivia.

The question of how to responsibly see close friends in a pandemic on a chilly night is a vexing one, especially when you’re living in Brooklyn, one of the most densely packed spots in the United States. The answer, I’ve discovered, is a stainless steel ring of fire. 

On a recent weekend, in a socially distanced Brooklyn backyard, the centers of attention were a birthday girl and the heat coming off the “bonfire,” a 20-pound, 14-inch mid-size version of the Solo Stove line of wood-burning fire pits. If you haven’t seen one of the three models in action yet, you likely will soon. The four-year-old invention has become something of a must-have pandemic item, thanks to an ingenious way of blazing wood, which puts off an ample amount of heat, eliminates messy cleanup, and doesn’t require people who get lost in the flames to go home and wash their hair before bed.   

The Solo Stove fire is built from the bottom up. The 19.5-inch base, where the wood sits, has ample vent holes, which send preheated oxygen skyward through dual stainless steel walls, and out upper vent holes just below the stove’s apex. What that all adds up to: The stove creates secondary burn with a more complete combustion and a 700-to-1,000-degree conflagration with a lot less smoke than you’re used to. 

“There’s no denying that relaxing around a fire is a primal activity,” says Solo Stove CEO John Merris. It is not, however, human nature, which may come as a surprise to so many of us who love sitting around a campfire—passing a bottle, telling ghost stories, roasting marshmallows, and singing along to an acoustic guitar. The positive emotional and intellectual connotations of sitting around a fire are cultural, a tradition coming out of colder European countries with a history of celebratory bonfires, says Daniel M.T. Fessler, a professor of evolutionary anthropology at UCLA. In the United States, that tradition has been further shaped by fantasies of rugged individualism and the idea of camping as a recreational pastime, especially this year. 

Fessler, author of the 2006 anthropological study “A Burning Desire,” explains that fire has a deep evolutionary history long predating our species and that controlling it was a key to human development. Unlike beer-bellied gorillas, humans have both big brains that need a lot of energy and small digestive tracts, which evolved through a much higher quality diet, thanks to meat and tubers cooked on an open flame. Animals had already done the hard work of digesting nutrients from plants and such; fire reduced pathogens and parasites. As a result, fire allowed for bigger human brains, the kind that, 790,000 years later, ensures that those warming themselves around the smoke-less blaze won’t piss off the condo association. 

But this winter, when entertaining is supposed to be strictly outdoors, fire is both comforting and practical. Solo Stove reports that sales have been up 30%, year over year, since COVID-19 hit in March—and rose even further in November, typically the company’s busiest month. Solo Stove says that it has captured 75% of the wood-burning fire pit “space.” (Think ceramic bowls and mini-chimneys.) Currently, all three fire pit models are on backorder until early 2021.

“We had a lot of momentum coming into the year and expected a solid growth trajectory, but of course we couldn’t have predicted how many suburban homeowners, RV escapists, and even urban dwellers looked to our fire pits as a way to get through the pandemic,” says Cristy Hatter, VP of brand. “Fire has a way of matching our moods.”

Originally, the founders of the Dallas-based company had a much humbler goal in mind, to boil water for two without fossil fuel in 10 minutes. Brothers Jeff and Spencer Jan and their young families were living far apart—Texas and Shanghai, specifically—and decided to start a business together to be closer. A lot closer, as it turns out: In 2010, they started working on their original lone product, an ultralight camping stove banged out in Jeff’s garage. 

The crowd-funding platform also played a major role in the company’s expansion into fire pits. In 2016, Solo Stove raised $1.2 million for its Bonfire model, then two years later, a whopping $1.7 million for the Yukon and Ranger versions. In 2018, the brothers stepped away from the day-to-day operations and Merris was brought in to manage Solo Stove’s growth from startup to industry standard. The bulk of company sales remain primarily direct-to-consumer, but Solo Stove products are now available at Home Depot and REI. 

Solo Stove’s preorders of an unreviewed product points to the company having already reached the enviable position of stout brand loyalty—due, in large part, to the personal stories of familial coziness around the fire, evolutionary or otherwise. 

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