Minimalist design for dogs

VOLDOG launched as part of a design and architecture studio. How did this all start?

It all started with expanding the studio family with a puppy named Scoot. His dysplasia made it difficult for us to find a bed with orthopaedic properties in a design that we liked. This search helped us to realise that there weren’t many well-designed pet products on offer, particularly not with an affordable price tag. At least not in Spain. Therefore, our initial idea was to set up an online store importing products from other countries in Europe or Asia. But at some point, we thought ‘Why don’t we do it ourselves? We are designers and we know what we like’.

What’s the inspiration behind your minimalist design for dogs collection called LINE?

We want all of our products to reflect a certain simplicity. The LINE collection reflects that simplicity of a single imaginary line in space. The line is also the material beginning of any project. We are passionate about art and, in that sense, we also take inspiration from artists like Aleana Egan or Mikael Christian Strobek.

You are using beautiful fabric from Danish design brand Kvadrat. If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be and why?

There are so many great fabrics! We wanted to start with those that in some way we’ve got more experience with. That is the fabrics that are used in the world of furniture and interior design. Especially the fabrics of Kvadrat and its recently acquired Febrik have always seemed beautiful and high quality to us. In the near future, we’d like to incorporate high‐performance fabrics such as Sunbrella or fabrics with anti‐mite properties.

Another project in this area that we are about to start, and that we are excited about, is the use of scraps and waste from furniture manufacturing companies; there are a lot of very good fabrics that are simply thrown away and that we could use to make collars for example. We have already started talking to two important Spanish furniture firms to manage it: circular economy!

You are very conscious of using sustainable materials. What is your guiding principle when sourcing the materials you work with?

There are several criteria that are not only summarized in the amount of pre and post-consumer material of a product. There are also criteria applicable to its production and the social policies of the manufacturing companies. We started from a previous investigation carried out in the studio for other projects with which we could make a small database in which these criteria and others such as availability and price are taken into account.

And finally, if a dog or cat owner asked you how to best pamper their pet. What would your advice be?

Time, time and time! Sometimes people are not aware of the time it takes to have a well-balanced pet. Time to cover their basic needs but also to simply be with them, play, talk to them. Create that special bond (and even a complicity bond) that they return you with that immeasurable love that only people who have pets know how to understand.