How an Indie Designer Landed Her Plushies at Petco

Tercek's original designs are on the left, the production units on the right.

Petco was searching for a new way to re-energize the pet-friendly toy line of their nationwide chain when they found Kristin Tercek. The NYU film school grad started her career producing animations for Coca-Cola, Cartoon Network, and Saturday Night Live. But it wasn't her on-screen endeavors that caught the pet supply store's attention. It was her line of hand-sewn plushies, with a following among collectors, gallery owners, and a category manager at Petco.

The buyer at Petco had seen a series of horror-movie inspired big-headed creatures that Tercek had created and thought they would be a great fit for their upcoming "Howloween" line of dog toys. The company agreed and proposed a collaboration.

"I was flattered and intrigued, and being a dog-owner, it seemed like a great idea," she describes.

For the line, Tercek provided some design options and collaborated with the manufacturing team at Petco to bring her original vision to reality. "The specifics of which fabrics, what weight and what squeakers to put in, I left up to Petco since they're the experts. I had approval along the way but made very minor style changes."

Overall, the final designs are very similar to Tercek's originals with small modifications. Petco ditched the button eyes in favor of embroidery, rounded the heads out a bit, chose drool-resistant fabrics — concessions for manufacturing and dog-resistant durability. But the designs represent Tercek's vision.

And the reception has been good. "I've gotten such positive feedback about them already — people without dogs are even buying them."

Tercek's toys have range – some are displayed at galleries, others hung on peg boards.

When asked how other artists could transition from gallery shows to suburban strip malls, Tercek says, "I have no hints or tricks. It all seems like dumb luck from where I sit!" Her story should inspire indie artists and will hopefully spur creators to consider nontraditional venues for their work. It's hard to get a show at the Met, much less the pet store.

Not one to stay on one project for too long, Tercek has already started refocusing her energies on painting and bringing bizarre new characters to life in two dimensions. "I have nine gallery shows lined up — Spoke Art, Gallery 1988, Swoon Gallery, Auguste Clown Gallery — and more that I'm working on." Can't make it to any of these hip gallery shows? Just give it a year until the traveling exhibition lands on a store shelf near you.

 Photos courtesy Kristin Tercek

Joseph Flaherty 17 Sep, 2012

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