A company is helping people remember their beloved pets by creating life-like 3D printed sculptures.

London-based Arty Lobster creates the hi-tech sculptures from around ten pictures of a dog or another pet which the owner uploads to the company’s website. 3D printing is a process of making three-dimensional solid objects from a digital file. The designer makes a 3D CAD/CAM computer model of the pet, which is then turned into a 3D print.

The result is a perfect little replica of the pet, which captures even small variations in fur colour and other characteristics.

Lars Andersen, Managing Director of Arty Lobster, explained: “With more and more households considering their pet to be one of the family, demand for a wide choice of quality products including bespoke pet memorials has never been higher.

“Pet memorials represent a significant part of our customer base. As our pets are becoming members of our family, we also increasingly want a memento of them to cherish forever.”

Most of Arty Lobster’s pet sculptures are made from full colour sandstone material. After creating a full colour computer model, they 3D print the pet in full colour using an advanced 3D printer. The result is a statue that shows off the pet in glorious full colour. Customers can have the full colour sculpture in either standard and large sizes. The standard size is 14 cm (c. 5.5 inches) tall when sitting (or long when standing), while the large sculpture is about 20 cm (almost 8 inches) tall.

The pet memorials market is a growing one. With almost 13 million households or 45% of the UK population owning a pet, the pet market as a whole is worth £4 billion a year. In 2014 it was estimated that 13 million (46% of) households have pets. The current pet population stands at around 65 million, according to figures from The Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association (PFMA.)