Etsy picks: Portuguese DivDog

The design world is a small one. The other day I noticed that a Portuguese schoolfriend of mine had been putting an awful lot of pictures of dog collars up on Facebook. Intrigued, I followed up and discovered that she's taken her first step into the competitive world of doggy design. So, with no further ado, I present the London Lisbonite Etsy pick for the week and an interview with Kathy, owner of DivDog.

1. Tell us what you make and how you got started.
I make dog collars. I started because I wanted my dog to have festive or seasonal collars. Since they can get expensive I decided to just make my own. I made my business DivDog Collars cause my dog's name is GoDIVa and we call her Div for short, hence DivDog.
2. What inspires you?
My dog is what really inspires me to keep creating collars. As far as patterns I just get inspired by the seasons, current holidays, I may see a pattern on a dog and think, "that's kinda cute, how can I make it better!"
3. Where did you get your technical know how?I borrowed a sewing machine from a friend, found the instructions online, and taught myself how to sew with a sewing machine, and then created dog collars (with some help from YouTube).

4. What's your favourite piece?
I have several more "classy"collars that I enjoy such as Inga, or my recent "Pennsylvania Dutch" themed collar.
5. What do you do when you're not creating/selling?
Usually I'd say school work, but since I'm off this semester from school, I play video games, Lego's, play with my dog, at work, volunteer at the hospital, bake...keep myself busy.
6. What are your plans for DivDog over the next couple of years?

I'd love to keep selling on the side, as I go through school, and I would love to make my collars more unique and detailed.