Part of your life. Still part of your home.
Three of us, in Zhengzhou, who each lost a pet in the same two years and could not find a thing worth keeping.
We are in Zhengzhou, China.
We take your order and confirm your reference photos and size with you. Our felted portraits, urns and printed figures are made to order at our partner workshops in China, and checked by our team in Zhengzhou.
The two years
A pet does not leave a house all at once. The bowl goes first. Then the bed. Then the habit of stepping around something that is no longer there. The photograph on the table cannot do what a body can.
The three of us have each stood in that room, in the same two years, in Zhengzhou. We went looking for something that could hold them and found what everyone finds: a box with a name carved on it, a figurine of a breed. Nothing with the face. We were not saying goodbye. We wanted the face back in the room. So we set out to make one.
What we make
Three things, one at a time. A felted portrait of them, needle-felted by hand, for the places they used to be. A keepsake urn with a small likeness of them on the lid. A printed figure of them, modeled from your photos, printed in resin and painted by hand or printed in full color, for a shelf or a desk. All from your photos. It's meant to be seen.
And not only after they’re gone. A life together deserves a portrait while you are still living it.
How we work
Tell us the story behind the photo, if you want to. We read it before anything is made. We confirm your reference photos and size with you first, and we send you photos of the finished piece before it ships. For felted pieces, you approve those photos before we ship. If we hear nothing within 14 days, we ship on your approved ship date, and the after-delivery rules apply. For urns and printed figures, if it doesn't look like them, tell us within 7 days of receiving it, with photos. We make it again once, free, working from the reference photos you confirmed. You keep the first piece. If the remade piece still doesn't look like them, we refund you as described in our refund policy. A person answers every message, and each of us has been where you are.
Each of us has been where you are.
We started this in the same two years, after our own pets. A person answers every message, and it is one of us.
Still means still here.
A still photograph. Tender means the care did not stop. Tender Still is a place for them to stay.
The Tender Still team
— Tan, and the two others who started this with him