My journey in sustainable development began in 2005. However, my first foray into making pet beds happened in 2004 when I became frustrated with my cat never liking or using the beds I bought for him. It was after I noticed he liked a chair no longer being used by my daughter, and, decided to make a cat couch for him instead. I took foam from a stool I no longer used and badabing, badabang, I whipped up what is now the cat and/or small dog bed fashioning it like that chair but wider and so the arms would work more like a hug. Our cat, MuppetBaby, well, he loved it!

That started the label formybff, which is the pet bed & accessories collection I've developed over the years. Just as important, however, has been my journey into sustainable development by repurposing found materials. (Which, by the way, sounds much easier than it is). I started incorporating a number of options/fabrics/materials to achieve my goal of using less while still creating beautiful & novel objects to decorate your home with. In the process of developing the pet beds, I rediscovered an old love of mine, embroidery, and now incorporate that into designs whenever and wherever I can. In delving deeper into the art of embroidery I have also discovered sashiko, the Japanese stitch historically used for mending clothing instead of purchasing new which, these days, has developed into an art form all on its own aka #visibilemending.

It was that final sashiko-discovery that helped me understand I needed to evolve into handmade products for the whole house and for all the peoples AND pets in the whole house. Thusly, as they said from yesteryear, A Handmade House was born.

Thank you for listening to my story. Please visually tag along with my development as you peruse my Etsy shop and catch updates through the blog, linked to below. Please let me know if you have any questions along the way!

Happy hunting while minding your carbon footprint.

Kind regards,
Kim