The Moment That Started Everything
In 2020, my closest friend lost his cat.
I remember the helplessness of not knowing what to say. Words felt inadequate for the kind of loss that hides in the empty spot on the sofa, in the morning routine that’s suddenly a few minutes shorter, in the food bowl you keep almost filling out of habit. So instead of words, I made something.
For five years I had been designing and crafting custom 3D objects — organic shapes, personal pieces, things built to mean something specific to one specific person. So I designed and printed a custom urn, sculpted from scratch to look like my friend’s cat. I packaged it carefully and brought it over.
The look on his and his wife’s faces when they unwrapped it — I carry that with me still.
It wasn’t just a memorial. It was recognition. That their cat had been one of a kind. That the bond they had shared was real. That their grief was real. That the life they were remembering deserved something more lasting and more personal than a plain container.
That evening, Sentimental Souvenirz was born.
About the Founder
My name is Nsikak Iquaibom, and I am the founder of Sentimental Souvenirz and the artist behind every design we create.
I have always been drawn to work that leaves a lasting impression on people’s lives — to objects that mark the things that matter and make that mark permanent. Custom memorial pieces, made specifically for a specific person, for a specific life, are one of the most intimate forms of that work. I started this store in June 2020, not as a business plan but as an answer to something I had witnessed firsthand: that pet owners carry enormous, lifelong love for their animals — and that most memorials don’t come close to honoring it.
Our studio is located in Tallinn, Estonia, where every urn is designed and 3D-printed by hand. No outsourcing. No mass production. No two urns are ever identical, because no two pets ever are.
How Every Urn Is Made
Each order begins with your photo and ends with a sculpture that honors the specific look, color, and spirit of your individual animal. Here is how the process works:
1. You share a photo and your pet’s name. A clear, well-lit photo gives us everything we need to begin. We’ll reach out if we need additional angles or details.
2. We design a custom 3D model. Using your photo as our guide, we build a stylized digital 3D sculpture in up to four custom colors — carefully matched to your pet’s actual coloring and markings.
3. You approve the design before we print. We share a digital preview of the finished design with you. You can request adjustments at this stage — we don’t begin printing until you’re satisfied.
4. We print and finish by hand in our Tallinn studio. Each urn is printed using high-quality, eco-friendly PLA filament — plant-based, durable, and built to last for decades.
5. We package it with care and ship it to you. Every urn is wrapped protectively to ensure it arrives in perfect condition, ready to be placed with the dignity it deserves.
Why This Matters
People ask sometimes how I could feel so strongly about pet loss without having pets of my own.
I think that is exactly why the moment with my friend moved me so deeply. I had no distance from it — no habit of grieving animals, no familiar framework. The loss hit me fresh, its full weight and particularity. The way grief for a pet is real grief. The way it deserves real recognition.
Every urn I make carries that clarity with it — the belief that the way we remember things shapes how much they stay with us. That your pet’s face, their coloring, their particular way of sitting in the afternoon light, deserves to be remembered exactly as it was.
This is what we build at Sentimental Souvenirz: not just urns, but permanent, physical recognition that a specific life was lived, and deeply loved.
“I’ve always been moved to make a lasting impact in people’s lives. When I saw the look on my friend’s face when he received that first urn, I knew I had found something important — and that I had to share it with more people.”
— Nsikak Iquaibom, Founder Tallinn, Estonia
📬 Questions? Reach me directly at nsikak@sentimentalsouvenirz.store or our official mail at info@sentimentalsouvenirz.store or via WhatsApp at +372 539 09216. We respond within 24 hours.