You know what's so funny? 

I wanted to collaborate with Walto back in 2023.

I admired their clean aesthetic, and thought it’d be cool to collaborate. I asked a mutual friend of ours for a lil vibe check, and they missed the message entirely 😔

But I was also thinking - HOW would I collab 😭?!

They sold pet treats and imported dog toys, I don’t even have a pug, and what would they need with stickers or merch that dogs can’t use? So in the end, I decided to not reach out, out of fear of coming across awkward and not knowing what I could provide 😔

3 years later...

Unbeknownst to me, Ginkgothepug was encouraging Walto to reach out to me - and with a little heeheehaahaa, Walto tagged me in an Instagram story captioned with "manifesting a collab" in January, and I responded via DM 👀

📆 The Due Date

Neither of us knew what our collab would be, but at least we knew we wanted to work together - maybe having a paired pop up on the east coast, just some event that would bring us together.

That's when Walto told me about their partnership with Markham Dog Alliance and MDA's annual June event - Barkham!

I checked my calendar (this is still in January btw), got connected with Greg of MDA who answered my many questions about the event, and checked all my boxes to go. Now with an event in mind, it was time for-

💖 The Collaboration

Stickers? Tote bags? 3D cookie cutter? The fun, and overwhelming, part of collaboration is figuring out what it is we're creating together within our scope. We were brainstorming up until mid-January, but with FanExpo Vancouver in February, I said we'll put a pin in it.

Come late April, Walto reignited the collab talk with the idea (once again thanks to Ginkgo's mom 🤣) to create a dog-friendly Puglie exclusive bubble tea mix (one of Walto's signature products) plus a sticker design (my signature product hehe).

With Barkham as the due date, we got cookin' on designs for stickers, and flavour ideas for the bubble tea.

⭐️ The Star

😎 The Fun

Puglie enjoying an egg tart and matching Walter in his signature sweater, enjoying a bubble waffle. 

Puglie as strawberry ice cream, Walter's favourite flavour, in their iconic cup.

Puglie x Walto limited edition, Barkham exclusive Puglie Pudding Milk Tea

When we were coming up with the flavour, I gave Walto a list based off of Puglie's look:
- Pudding
- Roasted Milk Tea
- Biscoff
- Cookie Dough
- HK Milk Tea
- YuenYeung
- Frozen Custard
- maybe something Malted?

🎉 The Event

Barkham was truly a blast - I got to pet so many dogs, and see so many smiles - my heart was so full 🥹💖

It was a two day event that was primarily outdoors - luckily Little Corgo and I were indoors since our displays were not built for the elements, and we were extra grateful to be indoors when it rained all day on Sunday 😭. Despite the damper, the event organizers continually did their best to brighten spirits and made sure they could help as many vendors and attendees as they could!

I went to a pug meet up, saw some faces I wouldn't have in my usual anime or comic cons, meet some super duper sweet fans, and connect with other fellow creators! And of course, finally got to meet Walto and Ginkgo IRL 🤣

🥹 Thank you all for showing up 💖

Met Sal and had to get her two cups that reminded me of my family dog <3