Best Lucky Cat Brands and Artists to Commission — A Curated Guide
I paint lucky cats by hand for a living, so people write to me all the time asking the same thing: where should I buy one, and who actually makes them well? I could just send them to my own Etsy shop and leave it there. But that would be a bit dishonest, because the truth is there are makers I genuinely admire who do things I don't do — real Japanese kiln work, illustrated prints, collector porcelain. So I decided to write it all down.
This is my honest list of the lucky cat brands and maneki neko artists I'd point a friend toward. A cheap resin figurine from a gift shop and a hand-painted maneki neko made by a person are two very different objects, and once you've held both you can feel it. Before you commission a custom lucky cat or buy one to keep, it helps to know a couple of things — mostly the color meanings and where you'll place it. I'll get to that near the end. First, the makers.
Quick Guide: 9 Lucky Cat Makers at a Glance
A fast comparison of every artist and brand covered in this guide — sorted by what they do best.
| Maker | Best For | Price |
|---|---|---|
| EndorphinArtCrafts | Custom Hand-Painted Maneki-Neko | $200–$220 |
| UnderTheSkyGoods | Authentic Made-in-Japan Figurines | $15–$30 |
| Musubikilns | Kutani Porcelain Collector Pieces | $40–$200+ |
| Tokyo Smart | Handmade Tokoname Ceramics from Japan | $25–$100+ |
| Great Zakka | Kutani and Seto Ware Gifts | $30–$150 |
| Studio Arhoj | Scandinavian-Japanese Design Fusion | €40–€100+ |
| Boygirlparty (Susie Ghahremani) | Illustrated Lucky Cat Art and Prints | $15–$200+ |
| Carrie Hawks / Tigerpixie | Fantasy Lucky Cat Prints | $10–$50+ |
| Fine Art America | Marketplace for Independent Lucky Cat Paintings | $25–$200+ |
EndorphinArtCrafts
This one is mine, so I'll be plain about it. I'm Diana — I was born in Guatemala and I taught myself to paint. Now I work out of a small studio in Barcelona, where I paint each maneki neko by hand, one at a time. I only take a few custom cats at once, and that's on purpose: when I'm painting your cat's markings or turning your own pet into a lucky cat, I don't want to be rushing to fill an order queue. I want to get the eyes right.
What I make isn't a factory figurine and it isn't trying to be a museum-grade antique. It's a hand-painted maneki neko with a face I gave it, meant to sit on your desk or shelf and feel like yours. People send me photos of their cats, their color they want for luck, sometimes a little story, and I paint from that. My reviews sit at 5.0 across about 20 of them, which for a small shop means a lot to me.
If you want the whole idea of a personal, one-off piece, that's the custom maneki-neko listing. If you just want to see what's ready to go, browse the shop.
Best for: Anyone who wants a genuinely one-of-a-kind, hand-painted lucky cat — a pet portrait or a personal piece — rather than something mass-produced.
UnderTheSkyGoods
When someone wants the real thing made in Japan but doesn't want to spend a fortune, this is where I send them. These are authentic ceramic figurines, often with calligraphy on them, and the shop is an Etsy Star Seller with something like 762+ reviews behind it — which tells you the packing and shipping are handled properly, and that matters when it's ceramic crossing an ocean.
I don't do traditional Japanese figurines myself, so there's no rivalry here from my side. If you want a small, affordable, honestly-made piece with real cultural roots, they do it well.
Best for: Buyers who want an authentic, made-in-Japan maneki neko at a gift-friendly price.
Musubikilns
This is a step up into collector territory. Musubikilns deals in Kutani and Seto ware, and what I respect most is that they document the kiln each piece comes from. As a maker, provenance like that is the part most shops skip, and it's exactly what a serious collector should be paying for.
If you're the kind of person who wants to know who fired the porcelain and where, and you're willing to pay for that lineage, start here.
Best for: Collectors who want documented Kutani porcelain with real kiln provenance.
Tokyo Smart
Tokoname is one of the old pottery towns, and Tokyo Smart's pieces are handmade there through the full traditional process. I like recommending them because "handmade" can be a slippery word online, and here it actually means the whole ceramic process, not just a hand-applied sticker on a molded blank.
Best for: Anyone who wants a genuinely handmade Japanese ceramic maneki neko with regional character.
Great Zakka
Great Zakka carries Seto-crafted lucky cats and makes them easy to give as gifts — free US shipping once you pass $99, which is a nice touch when you're buying for someone else. This is my go-to suggestion when a US buyer wants something traditional and gift-ready without hunting through an overseas checkout.
Best for: US shoppers buying a traditional Kutani or Seto ware lucky cat as a gift.
Studio Arhoj
Studio Arhoj is the one on this list that made me smile the first time I saw it. It's a Danish studio doing Japanese-influenced ceramic figures, fired three times, and the result is this clean Scandinavian-meets-Japan look you won't find anywhere else. It's not a traditional maneki neko and doesn't pretend to be — it's design-forward, and that's the whole appeal.
Best for: People who care about contemporary design and want a ceramic piece that fuses Scandinavian and Japanese aesthetics.
Boygirlparty (Susie Ghahremani)
Susie Ghahremani, who works as boygirlparty, is one of the maneki neko artists I'd happily point you to when you want art on your wall rather than an object on your shelf. Her illustrated lucky cats have real charm and a distinct hand, and prints are an easy, affordable way to live with an artist's work.
Best for: Anyone who wants illustrated lucky cat art and prints from a working independent artist.
Carrie Hawks / Tigerpixie
Carrie Hawks paints under Tigerpixie, and her lucky cats lean fantasy — a different mood entirely from a traditional porcelain figure. If the classic ceramic look isn't your taste and you'd rather have something more imaginative and painterly on paper, this is a lovely, low-cost way in.
Best for: Fans of fantasy-style art who want an affordable, imaginative lucky cat print.
Fine Art America
Fine Art America isn't a single maker — it's a marketplace, and I'm including it honestly for what it is. If you want to browse a lot of independent lucky cat paintings in one place and see many styles side by side, it's a good hunting ground. Just know you're shopping a catalog, so read each artist's own page before you buy.
Best for: Browsers who want to compare many independent lucky cat paintings in one marketplace.
Understanding Maneki-Neko: What to Look For
Color symbolism is specific, so choose it on purpose. Each color carries its own wish: white for happiness, gold for wealth, black to ward off evil, pink for romance, red for health, and green for academic success. When someone commissions a custom lucky cat from me, this is the first thing I ask about — the color is the whole intention of the piece. If you want to go deeper, I keep a full color meanings guide.
Paw position carries meaning, so check which paw is raised. A left paw beckons people and customers, a right paw brings in money, and a cat with both paws up is a modern "welcome everything" version. If you're buying for a shop or workspace, the paw genuinely changes what the cat is doing for you — I wrote more about that in the businesses and workspace guide.
Materials tell you everything about how it was made. Authentic pieces are ceramic or porcelain; the cheap reproductions are resin, and once you know the difference you can spot it instantly by weight and finish. This isn't snobbery — a resin figure is fine if that's what you want — but you should know which one you're paying for.
For custom commissions, ask a few questions before you pay. Request to see the maker's portfolio, ask how many revisions are included, and expect a timeline of roughly one to four weeks for a hand-painted maneki neko. Anyone doing this seriously will be happy to answer — I certainly am, because a custom piece is a small collaboration, not a vending machine.
Who Should You Commission?
- A unique hand-painted figurine that's truly yours: EndorphinArtCrafts (that's me).
- Traditional Japanese authenticity: UnderTheSkyGoods, Tokyo Smart, or Musubikilns.
- Contemporary art and prints for your wall: boygirlparty, Carrie Hawks, or Fine Art America.
- Design-forward ceramic objects: Studio Arhoj.
There's no single "best" lucky cat on this list, and I'm not going to pretend there is. Each of these makers is better than me at something, and I'm better at one thing — making a maneki neko that's personal to one specific person. The right cat is simply the one that actually means something to you. If you want to understand where all this comes from, I'd also read the tradition guide before you buy.
Ready to commission a one-of-a-kind Lucky Cat?
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