How can we help you make the most of your life with your dog right now? It’s a question we’ve always asked, but it’s especially resonant these days.
Since day one (aka April 2019), Argos & Artemis has been a community for good dogs and good humans with good taste. As a first-time dog mom in my 20s in New York City, I noticed that while pet care products have become increasingly elevated, the content that aligned with these products just didn’t match up. As a former editor who has worked for publications like Miss Vogue Australia and The Guardian and who is involved with the art world as a member of the Brooklyn Museum’s Young Leadership Council, I sought to create a platform that combined journalistic integrity with editorial vision in the pet care space. And because I was new to the pet care industry, I vowed to be humble and quiet, as there was (and still is) so much to learn. I spent the first 12 months visiting the homes of tastemaker dog parents, from U.N. ambassadors royal princesses to visionary founders to best-selling authors, and learning about this incredible industry from other entrepreneurs and investors. I was an anthropologist in school, and I was privileged enough to deep dive into how we live our best lives with our best friends, from what we buy to what we do, from Stockholm to London to San Francisco to New York City. This was, unexpectedly, market research that no five-minute survey could achieve.
Argos & Artemis is currently a one-dog mom and-one chief canine officer operation, but in the past year, we co-hosted and moderated The Wing’s first and only dog event (a panel discussion with female founders in the pet care space about living our best lives with our best friends), spoke at New York City’s legendary Public Theater, learned from hundreds of dog parents from aristocrats to professors to ballet dancers to ambassadors to artists, published a weekly newsletter called the Dog Park with a 60 percent open rate, drove conversation and community in the pet care industry with beautiful original writing and imagery, and petted so many dogs. I am also proud to say that since day one, we have celebrated and worked with BIPOC and LGBTQ+ dog parents—because we believe in good people and good dogs.
In early April this year, after New York City had been sheltering in place for about one month, I realized that so many of my friends and acquaintances would be working from home until 2021, and those who are essential workers have been treasuring their time at home more than ever. Home has always been at the center of our vision: When you read our exclusive conversations with incredible dog people and their dogs, we want you to feel like you have made yourself at home on their dog hair-covered sofa, with a cup of tea (or something stronger) in your hand and a cuddly dog in your lap.
Curated from around the world to encourage at-home activities that strengthen and deepen the human-dog relationship while you are spending more time indoors than ever before.
That’s why we’re coming home to you in a new and different way. We’re proud to officially launch our first e-commerce product, the Sit, Stay (In), Treat Yourselves box, curated from around the world to encourage at-home activities that strengthen and deepen the human-dog relationship while you are spending more time indoors than ever before. This box of nine luxe essentials was selected from an entire year of travel, research and testing, and community building. These products were recommended to us from dog parents with incredible taste just like you, after which we tested with chief canine officer Artemis, who was all too happy to have dozens of new products to keep her occupied.
For this limited edition box, we prioritized supporting women-owned small businesses, sustainability throughout the entire supply chain, and chic design that didn’t sacrifice functionality. We also wanted to help bring the best pet care products from around the world—what you can’t buy at Petco or Chewy—to your doorstep, especially in this time of immobility. Every box is lovingly and carefully packed in recyclable and compostable packaging, in a gorgeous Dalmatian print box tied with a raw silk bow (fun fact: Most ribbons are synthetic and therefore end up in landfills. But our raw silk ribbons are biodegradable!). Each box also includes a guide to having the best day with your best friend and a vintage-style recipe card for peanut butter olive oil dog biscuits, designed by a menu designer who designs for some of New York City’s most Instagrammed restaurants so that you’d enjoy tacking them onto your fridge alongside all of your takeout menus.
We didn’t make any compromises, because we didn’t want you to make any compromises. We want both you and your dog to Sit, Stay (In), and Treat Yourselves. It’s the perfect ready-to-go gift for your favorite dog parent, too. And in case you’re wondering, standard shipping to the United States is free!
From now until July 16th, for every order placed, we will be donating $20 to the Navajo Water Project, providing clean water to the Navajo Nation, which has the highest COVID-19 infection rate in the United States. You can watch the story of a Navajo boy and his dog and how clean water changes their lives at our shop.
To complement our Sit, Stay (In), Treat Yourselves box, we are launching our Sit, Stay (In), Read literary salon series featuring original writing from some of the most acclaimed and talented writers of our modern day, who also happen to be obsessed with their dogs, alongside original illustrations by some of the most talented emerging artists of our time. We hope this gorgeous new series helps deepen the relationship between you and your dog, just as our Sit, Stay (In), Treat Yourselves box does.
First, we are honored to have Carmen Maria Machado writing about her Beagle mix, Rosie. Carmen is a 2017 National Book Award Finalist and author of the short stories collection Her Body and Other Parties, the memoir In the Dream House, and the DC Comics series The Low, Low Woods. She is one of the most celebrated writers under 35 of our time, is frequently published by magazines like the New Yorker, and she and her wife currently live in Philadelphia, where she is the Writer in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania. The illustration is by Minnesota-born Singaporean artist Jia Sung, who is an art director at Guernica and whose work is in the permanent collections of SFMOMA and the Special Collections at Yale, SAIC, and RISD.
This is just the start, but we’re so grateful to everyone who has joined our community for dog people. We can’t wait to find new ways to treat you!
Photography by Rikki Snyder
Illustration by Jia Sung