What The WalkThe_?
WalkThe_ basks legs up, belly exposed in the sliver of sunshine where design culture & dog parenthood meet.
Woofin weird as a positioning statement perhaps, but WalkThe_ was conceived through the incredibly strange weeks the world spent in lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19. Like most people, our mum (Nicole) was working from home during the pandemic response, and we (like lots of our k9 mates) had unprecedented access to our human parents. While mum was trying to be focussed and do her thing, we were muscling in on zoom meetings, and enthusiastically helping her go about her work. This type of "assistance" wasn't entirely new to mum as under normal circumstances we go to her studio for "business" - but we were seeing lots more of mums collaborators fur-babies helping their human parents during this time too. There were plenty of dogs popping up in zoom, and mum's social media feeds went from the typical roster of visual design, printmaking, architecture and ceramics to a steady stream of creative canine and feline companions.
Roly was helping his mum write,
Gidget helped her mum design cities,
Skat was overseeing water sensitive urban design,
Eddie was working on web development and engagement strategies,
Luna & Quincy were throwing pots,
Twiggy was directing short films,
Stanley was printing and binding books…
Even the late-night comedy mum & dad stream on Youtube had k9 co-presenters. We animals found our time to shine and were living our best life in what the humans tell us were dark days.
Four-legged family members worldwide were comforting their two-legged companions who were feeling isolated and lonely. Our loyalty, optimism and love inspired Mum to create a platform to learn more about the dogs in the creative community.
So WalkThe_ begins with WalkTheTalk a series of interviews with creatives about their practice and their canine collaborators. Mum will also profile the makers of her favourite dog goods. And we have ambitions to help mum design a range of doggie centric stuff (in partnership with other dogs and humans), so we can give back to animals in need.
We hope your tail will be wagging to meet all these incredible canines and their companions.
Wags and woofs
Bee, Kahu & Tere
