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The unruly piles of hay were the literal last straw.
That’s not to suggest that Jeni Nguyen, bunny mother of two, would ever have given up Betty and Elvis because their diet of dried grass created a never-ending mess inside her modestly sized Portland home. But feathery strand-strewn floors did prompt her to create a hutch that contained all of that hay, which was the first step toward the launch of Bink Rabbit Goods.
“Hay is the bane of every bunny person’s existence,” Nguyen says. “It was a product to solve my own problems, and I was like, well, if I’m experiencing this, I can’t be the only person. And the more I dug into it, the more I realized, OK, pet bunnies, even though they’re not as popular as cats and dogs, they are quite popular, and nobody’s making stuff for them.”
Or at least, she adds, there wasn’t much in the way of supplies for rabbit owners in her demographic: working adults. Nguyen says most of the items on the market are geared toward children despite the fact that these animals can be challenging to care for and do not make good starter pets.
You’d never confuse Bink’s credenza for a kids’ product. In fact, the sleek, stylish piece wouldn’t be out of place on the cover of a Scandinavian-themed issue of Architectural Digest. That sophisticated aesthetic is no accident—Nguyen is a designer—and she wanted a showpiece for the living room that would blend in with her modernist décor.
The cabinet, which she initially built herself in the garage as an experiment, freed up her spare bedroom, which the bunnies and their accoutrements—from the feeder to a large pen—had commandeered. That’s because it’s an all-in-one unit: The credenza not only features a chew-proof slatted metal shelf that holds hay; it also accommodates (and conceals) a litter box on one side and acts as a den where free-roaming house rabbits can chill on the other. Nguyen’s bunnies took to the prototype immediately.
“They just knew that this was their space,” she says. “What they love about it, kind of like a kennel to a dog, they know that this is their little zone.”
The instant benefit was, of course, a tidier setup. But a somewhat surprising positive side effect developed over time: a stronger bond between rabbits and owner. Prior to her invention, Nguyen was relegated to that spare bedroom if she wanted to spend time with Betty and Elvis—typically sitting or lying on the floor to encourage interaction with the two rescues. Once they were all regularly spending time in the main living area, they simply got more exposure to Nguyen and her partner, which built up trust.
After her hay hardship came to an end, Nguyen had no intention of turning her idea into a business. But as with so many other people who began reevaluating their priorities during the pandemic, Nguyen took a hard look at what she wanted to pursue, decided to put her career on hold, and then followed her passion. Bink’s Kickstarter campaign went live in 2022, which had a fundraising target of $12,000. That goal was crushed by a wave of more than $33,000 in contributions from like-minded bunny parents.
Since then, the credenza has been fine-tuned: A metal screen that was fixed in place on the prototype can now be removed for easier cleaning, and a groove near the sliding doors has been sealed to prevent accidents from seeping into what was a tough-to-wipe-down spot. Nguyen also consulted with a vet to ensure the materials used to construct each piece were safe (certain woods like pine and cedar are toxic to rabbits). The resulting product is made of sustainably sourced Baltic birch, which is finished with a waterproof hard wax blend of vegetable oils.
Those high-quality parts mean that the price tags for the original credenza as well as a newer, slightly smaller bench are not cheap: We’re talking Dania Furniture figures, not Ikea. But the hutches are also built to last with rabbit safety top of mind.
“It was just really important to me because I’m making these for my own bunnies,” Nguyen explains. “I could cut corners and make them a lot cheaper, but I personally wouldn’t feel comfortable letting my bunnies use that, so I wouldn’t want to offer that to other people, either.”
Which raises another question: Given the potential of the furniture’s versatility, has she thought about marketing to parents of pets other than rabbits?
“I mean, a lot of folks have said, ‘Oh, I would love this for my dog. I would love this for my cat,’” says Nguyen. “Maybe it will go in that direction, but right now I’m sticking to bunnies. There’s all these squirrels. I just want to chase the bunny squirrel right now.”
See the rest of Willamette Week’s Best of Portland 2023 here!