How the Alinea & Ornata Walk Set Came to Life

Living with a dog changes how you notice details.

You feel the leash in your hand every day. You notice when a rope is too thin, when a collar twists the wrong way, when something looks good once but not over time. What seems simple at first becomes deeply personal once it becomes part of your routine.

The Alinea Leash and Ornata Collar came to life through months of iteration, recalibration, and constant decision making. What you see in the final walk set is the result of countless small choices, revisions, and conversations that happened long before the first piece ever reached a dog’s neck.

 

1. From idea to drawing

Every piece starts with a conversation.

I sat down with our designer and described the product I had always wanted as a dog mom, one shaped by the everyday moments and frustrations you only notice once you are living them.

We talked about the small but very real pain points. A leash that is not made from thin webbing that burns your palm when your dog suddenly pulls. A collar system designed like Lego, allowing different accessories, colors, or materials to be mixed, matched, and evolved over time.

Beyond comfort and function, I wanted something elevated and timeless. A piece you would not grow tired of, one that blends seamlessly into daily life without ever feeling dated.

Those ideas gradually took form through sketches and technical drawings. Proportions were refined. Hardware placement was reconsidered. Loops, knots, and attachment points were drawn and redrawn until everything felt resolved on paper.

This stage is about vision, deciding how a product should feel long before it exists.

 

2. Turning drawings into patterns

Once the design was clear, it had to become something physical.

Drawings were translated into paper patterns, with every measurement checked and rechecked. Lengths, widths, seam allowances, fold lines. Small changes at this stage can alter how a leash hangs or how a collar sits on a dog’s neck.

Details matter here, down to the millimeter. This is where you find out whether an idea actually works once it leaves the page.

3. Materials, colors, and hardware alignment

Before sampling could begin, we worked closely with the factory and suppliers to lock in materials.

Leather color, grain, thickness. Hardware finish and weight. Rope diameter, texture, and flexibility. Each decision led to another, and every option came with subtle variations that felt small on their own but carried real impact on the final product.

At this stage, nothing could be chosen in isolation. Leather that was slightly too stiff changed how the handle felt. Hardware that was just a bit heavier threw off the balance. A rope that looked right did not always feel secure in hand.

This stage is meant to be about harmony, but in reality it was the most mentally exhausting part of the process. Making decisions across colors, thicknesses, materials, and patterns meant constantly weighing tiny differences that could completely change how the final piece looked and felt. It was hard, and often overwhelming, but also necessary.

 

4. Sampling and rethinking

Sampling is where things get real.

The first version did not work. The leather was too stiff for the handle we designed. The color looked different from what we expected. What made sense on paper did not feel right once we held it.

So we went back and changed it.

We adjusted the design, swapped materials, and sampled again with the factory. Then we did another round. And then another. Each version fixed one problem and revealed the next. Sampling showed us issues we could not see earlier and forced us to make decisions we had not planned for.

It was slow and sometimes frustrating, but it was the only way to get it right.

 

5. Setbacks along the way

After sampling was finished, we confirmed all production details and moved into bulk production. Since both the leather and hardware were custom developed, the original production timeline was around one month.

About a week into production, the factory informed us that the leather we had confirmed was no longer available. We had to pause production and start sourcing again.

The factory’s procurement team searched for leather with similar characteristics, while I also reached out directly to several leather suppliers to see if we could find a suitable replacement quickly. We went through two additional rounds of sampling. It was not until the third round that we found leather with a hand feel close enough to what we had originally approved.

What seemed like a small change ended up causing more than a month of delay.

This is the less visible part of R&D. Sampling and material sourcing often take the longest, and even once bulk production begins, unexpected issues can still come up. With both leather and hardware being custom, lead times are usually around a month, and sometimes longer.

 

6. Six months, start to finish

From sampling to final delivery from the factory, the process took around six months in total.

Those six months included repeated sampling, production adjustments, and long periods of waiting. Even during final inspection before shipment, we still discovered issues that needed quick decisions and last minute solutions, whether big or small.

Once the goods were cleared for shipment, they traveled by sea for about another month before finally arriving at the warehouse. Only then did the process truly feel complete.

Looking back, the Alinea Leash and Ornata Collar exist because of that patience. They carry the weight of the process, the learning, and the care that went into each step. We hope they feel as considered in your hands as they were in the making.