After spending many years cultivating a profession, retiring for many individuals means finally being able to kick back and take it easy.

But business is really growing for Jaeshin Ha, who is 79 years old and who, together with his wife, retired in 2019 after owning and operating a men’s clothes store for the previous four decades.

His daughter Christina Ha shared a video on TikTok showcasing a typical day in the life of her father, Jaeshin, which went viral. Over the last three years, Jaeshin has been creating beds for rescued cats, and his commitment to his art was the subject of the film.

According to what Christina Ha said in an interview with The Dodo, “[My parents] were still in the process of figuring out what that retirement looked like when the pandemic started.” home the year 2020, shortly after Christina and her husband made the decision to move back home with her parents, she and her parents started making masks together.

Christina reflected, “It was a very interesting and stressful time, and we kept making masks for a few months,” as they continued to work on the project. After that, we discovered that we had a large amount of cloth, so we began brainstorming other ways in which we might use it.

@whiskstowhiskers It makes me so happy to see how my dad spends his retirement. I hope one day, I can have days that feel like it's purposeful, but also includes mid-day naps, K-dramas, and cat time. #catdadha #dad #cats #dayinthelife ♬ Aesthetic – Tollan Kim

Christina is not just one of the co-founders of Meow Parlor, which was New York City’s first cat café, but she is also the president of the nonprofit organization that is linked with Meow Parlor and is called Meow Parlour Cats, Inc. As a result, the idea of cat beds soon emerged, as was only logical.

 “I don’t remember how we ended up on cat beds, but I do remember how we ended up on cat beds.” “We began developing prototypes over the course of the summer, and by the time we got to October, I believe our feline friends had exhausted all of their testing options, and it was abundantly clear that one of them was superior to the others.”

@whiskstowhiskers I spent most of my college years imagining that I would become a fashion PR executive one day. As an intern, I sent clothing to magazines, cleaned up showrooms, and worked many Fashion Weeks – often multiple shows per season. But eventually, these things lost their luster. Shortly after college, I enrolled in a haute couture school where I learned all the hallmarks of a well constructed garment. In a lot of ways, it made me truly appreciate clothing and when 'Valentino: The Last Emperor' came out, I was floored by the beauty that emerged from people's hands and imaginations. But it also made me lose interest in my work. At work, when I flipped everything inside out to look at the seams, I was constantly disappointed. I remember one time asking my roommate what I would do if in my 30s, someone asked me to describe how I spent the last decade of my life. Would I be proud? Eventually, I started to crave being able to work with my hands. I wanted to be able to hold something that I made. I'm not very good at making clothes because I didn't have the patience to finish them, but baking was different. If I finished baking, I could eat what I made and I could share. Cookies make 99% of people happy (and I don't want to be friends with people who are anti-cookies!). I got this from my parents. They didn't make the clothes they sold at their stores, but they would make adjustments to suits to make them fit their customers better. Through the relationships they built, they got to be part of weddings, proms, holidays and even funerals. Their work wasn't abstract to them because they collected stories. To get there, they worked with their hands every day. I left my old career path because my peaceful place involves putting my hands to work. Nowadays, my parents get to produce well-made things from the beginning to the end and I still make cookies. But in our free time, we get to make and collect stories. When I had my quarter life crisis 13 years ago, I don't think any of us could have expected that the stories would involve itty bitty kittens. #catdadha #smallbusiness #kitten #asianparents #fosterkittens #orphankittens ♬ To Build A Home – The Cinematic Orchestra & Patrick Watson

Because Christina’s mother and father are “very detail-oriented” and because Jaeshin has very strong emotions about the quality of his work, Christina’s family went through around four different prototypes while designing the design for the ideal cat bed. Jaeshin has very strong feelings about the quality of his work.

Christina said, “My dad is very quiet, but he’s also very observant, so he noticed little things like whenever he would lay out a piece of fabric, a cat would come and sit in the middle of it.” “My dad is very quiet, but he’s also very observant.” “So right from the start, he had the idea that [the bed] should be level. The rest of what we did was geared at making the bed more inviting for the kitties.

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the beds, the family gave prototypes of the beds to cat fosters and adopters. “We would also wash the beds to see how well they held up and would put them in various parts of the house to see if they would choose the bed,” Christina added. “This helped us determine how well the beds held up over time.” “We were fortunate that the original concept made sense, and all that needed to be done was to improve the quality and make sure that it was more durable so that it could withstand being washed multiple times.”

Additionally, Jaeshin and his wife are toy manufacturers. In the beginning, they began by stitching together toys in the form of things like starfish, ladybugs, turtles, and even kimbap, which is a traditional Korean rice roll. According to Ha, “from the very beginning, they had made a lot of shapes based on ocean themes, such as the seahorse and the shark, because my dad had this theory that cats love fish.” “I really doubt that cats have ever interacted with seahorses or clown fish, but I’m not here to correct my dad when he’s having fun,” the cat owner said. “I’m not here to correct him when he’s having fun.”

@whiskstowhiskers Replying to @susanlovesfae This was unexpected, but my parents were absolutely psyched when I told them about all of you. My mom clapped and cheered and my dad kept asking me for high fives all day. I'm really grateful that my parents get to spend their retirement in a meaningful way that gives them purpose, joy, and pride. Plus, they get to help cats! Our new foster is about 6 days old and she is doing really well thanks to you. I'd love some name suggestions for her. #catdadha #catdad #fosterkittens #smallbusiness #adayinthelife ♬ Bundle of Joy (From "Inside Out") – Benny Martin

The family’s handcrafted beds may be purchased when they are available via WhisksToWhiskers.com, the website of Meow Parlour, and the brick-and-mortar café where the family runs the business. A percentage of the proceeds from the sale of each bed goes to the charitable organization that Meow Parlour supports, and another piece is given to Christina’s parents as a thank-you for all of their hard work.

@whiskstowhiskers My parents had an incredible year. Cannot wait to see what they do in 2023. ❤️ #catdadha #parents #2022 #korea #koreanparents #family #cats #newyear ♬ Einaudi: Experience – Ludovico Einaudi & Daniel Hope & I Virtuosi Italiani

Christina said that the cat beds provide her parents with a feeling of fulfillment at this stage of their lives.

However, the most essential thing that Jaeshin and his wife are doing is improving the lives of rescued cats all across the globe a little bit more comfortably.