Doggu: Four Dogs, a Shared Life, and Design That Makes It More Joyful

A blue SUPERBARKET sign hangs above shelves of colourful products. Leashes sit beside collars, while little accessories take the shape of food and familiar everyday objects. At another counter, visitors are invited to choose pieces and put together combinations of their own.

This is the world of Doggu.

It is a world where pet accessories make room for colour, humour and their owners’ tastes, from a tiny necklace charm to a matcha-cup bib that can bring a smile simply by being worn by a dog.

Listening to the two co-founders, you begin to understand how simply all this playfulness began: with four dogs at home, and a wish to build something they could enjoy doing for a long time.

After leaving their jobs and wondering what to do next, they looked at their own lives. Their pets were already a large part of their everyday happiness. Spending time with the dogs, and shopping for them, were things they did regularly.

The more they shopped, however, the clearer it became that the products they wanted were still difficult to find.

As they saw it, the pet products available then tended to favour either function or appearance. They wanted both: something genuinely useful, with a design they would love to choose for the little members of their household.

With a background in design, the feeling that they had not yet found what they liked gradually became a question: what if they made it themselves?

That was where Doggu began.

Even the name came from wanting something memorable that would bring pets to mind. They started with the familiar word Dog and added Gu, creating a name that sounded cute, felt a little like a Japanese word, and suited the character they wanted their brand to have.

From that short name, Doggu’s world slowly gained detail through each new product.

Their first creation was a customised pet ID necklace, bringing illustration and design into an everyday accessory. Charms, colours and small components each carried a story. That attention to detail continued to shape the products that followed.

The founders describe Doggu’s visual world as Pop Pets Aesthetic. Inspiration comes from fashion, toys and everyday objects, before being adapted into the brand’s own language.

A current interest might become the starting point for a new pattern. A familiar dish might become a miniature charm. A pleasing combination of colours might find its way onto a leash or necklace. Designing becomes a way of playing with things around them, then discovering how those things might fit into the lives of pets and their people.

For Doggu, lifestyle means thinking about both at once. A product should suit a pet as well as the life of the person caring for them. The hope is to become part of the moments they share.

That idea comes into clearer focus inside the workspace.

On the shelves and in the drawers of a yellow cabinet, work from different stages of the brand’s life has been kept: earlier collections, older products and a necklace from 2019 that can still be taken out and examined. This corner is a record of the brand’s growth, told through colour, materials and shapes.

Keeping these objects makes the distance between an early idea and today’s work visible. It reveals what has changed, and which details have continued to feel like Doggu all along.

One product that tells that story particularly well is the Everyday Necklace.

It did not begin as a planned product launch. While the brand was making custom pieces, a customer asked for a round tag with their pet’s initials. After the finished piece appeared on Instagram, other customers began asking for the same design.

Those requests showed the founders how one person’s small preference could resonate with others. They developed the idea into the Everyday Necklace, which they describe in this conversation as still being one of the brand’s best-selling products.

The necklace tells us more than how a product came about. It shows how customers help shape a brand’s direction through what they choose, what they ask for, and how they respond to a designer’s experiments.

One co-founder recalls feeling uncertain about their direction in the early days. Discovering people who liked and connected with the work gradually built her confidence. Doggu’s identity became clearer through making things and listening to the response.

There is, of course, a considerable amount of work between a playful idea and a finished product on a shelf.

The founders describe sourcing materials and making prototypes as particularly difficult stages: the slow work of turning an idea into something real. The most enjoyable stage is often the beginning, when they can throw ideas back and forth and the possibilities are still wide open.

Another kind of pleasure arrives when they see a dog or cat wearing the finished piece. Something that began in their imagination has passed through design and production, and finally become part of someone’s life.

Pets are therefore present throughout Doggu’s creative process. They are also in the office almost every day.

The founders say the atmosphere changes when the dogs come to work. People gather to play with them. Even during a serious discussion or a stressful meeting, a four-legged companion may be sitting nearby. Taking a moment to play can make it easier to return to work feeling a little lighter.

Living alongside pets also reveals small problems that might be missed at a design desk. Many products grow out of the founders’ own experiences, prompting them to consider how something could work better while retaining the appearance they want it to have.

Looking ahead, they want Doggu to understand pet owners and create a place where people can feel they have companions who share their interests. They also hope to take the brand’s identity into new areas beyond pet products.

Another ambition is for Doggu to become a Thai brand that people in different countries think of: recognised for its design and able to stand alongside international brands.

Looking back at the colourful shelves and the drawers of earlier work, that ambition is supported by many small details: a necklace prompted by a customer’s request, prototypes that took time to develop, and everyday life with dogs that keeps offering new questions to explore.

From the happiness of being at home with four dogs, Doggu has gradually passed that feeling on through the things it makes. Other people can choose a colour, pick a pattern, and imagine their own favourite companion wearing it.

Then smile when they finally see it for themselves.