Stroll through Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin and you may just hear the dainty pad of paws from a captivating pair of hounds. Meet Yōji and Viktor, two sleek white whippets who shine on Instagram as @_wand_wand thanks to their owner: designer and amateur photographer wandaMAN.
The feed’s minimalist aesthetic, combined with Yōji’s and Viktor’s highly photogenic sensibilities, creates a perfect balance between pet and muse—an attention that has earned nearly 70,000 followers.
This popularity isn’t just thanks to wandaMAN’s whippets. She happens to be a killer graphic designer. Born in Poland, she cut her teeth on posters for underground techno parties. Working with her brother, she used “distorted digital photos from [an] old and damaged Sony camera”. She created stickers. She made graffiti. She collected “defective laser prints from copy machines”.
Concerning whippets, wandaMAN was enthralled at first sight. “When Yōji came to us, I literally bombarded my family with photos of him until my sister told me about Instagram,” she says. “Whippets became more than just a dog to me; they’re addictive. They can change from lazy couch potato to a super speed machine… The classic ‘s’ shape of their sleek bodies reminds me of Japanese hiragana alphabet.”
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You can enjoy the complete feature in Four&Sons, Issue Nine.
To buy a copy, click here
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Photography byandaMAN
@_wand_wand
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