It all began with an old sail rope that had to serve as a substitute when the dog’s leash was left at home. Tanja Nottebaum has since made a virtue out of necessity. She now makes acces­sories out of rope for dogs, horses and people – all under her label Tau Stil. We talked to the Meer­busch-based designer about four-legged super­models, the advantages of cottage industry, and village life.

Yes, I worked as a real estate agent. But before that, I worked in the fashion indus­try – in fact, the two jobs over­lapped for a while. I first worked in retail, then later for commer­cial agen­cies. What actually brou­ght me to TAU STIL was a visit I paid to my parents in 2015. They were reorga­nizing their basement and we found a few ropes from our old family sailboat; I thought they were lovely and didn’t want to just throw them away. So I initially put them in the trunk of my car with­out any real idea of what I was going to do with them. I remem­bered them just a little while later, while I was out and about in Düs­sel­dorf with Clooney, my Shetland sheep­dog, and found I’d left his leash at home. The sail rope came in very handy as a tempo­rary solu­tion. I thought it not only worked really well but also looked totally cool – and that’s when the idea for TAU STIL was born. I star­ted out by using remnants pro­vided by my grand­mother, who was also a keen sailor. But when more and more people from my circle star­ted asking me for these leashes, I recognized their potential and began visiting all the ship’s chand­lers in and around Düssel­dorf. I’ve been focusing all my attention on my label since 2017.

No, that was only when I was get­ting star­ted. These days, I get the ropes for my acces­sories from spe­cial­ists. My work­shop now has a select stock of ropes in beautiful colors and a variety of thick­nes­ses. Long strands neatly wound on spools.

Oh yes. You could say they’re both test­imoni­als and brand ambas­sa­dors who are always at my side and never leave the house without a TAU STIL acces­sory. That’s why I take most of the photos for my social media channels when we go out for our walks.

I’ve grown up with animals. I first sat on the back of a horse when I was three, and the first dog joined our family when I was six. I can no longer imagine a life without them, or only with great difficulty. I was so keen to have my own horse that I saved up the money for one over time by doing all kinds of jobs. It was also im­por­tant to me to be truly responsible, not only for an animal but also for my own actions. I still find it amaz­ing to be able to grow with and through animals.

Even though Meerbusch is close to Düs­sel­dorf and Neuss, it still feels quite like living in a village. You leave the house, and the fields are just a few steps away. The stable is also within walk­ing dis­tance. That makes things a lot easier. I also lived in Düs­sel­dorf for a while, but always spent as much time as I could close to nature.

TAU STIL products are all made by hand in our workshop in Meer­busch. This means that the work­man­ship and the quality of the materials are crucial. The metal compo­nents we use in our collars, leashes, halters and lead ropes, for example, are made out of brass and stainless steel. Besides giving them a classy look, this also makes them stable and ensures they will not rust. It goes without saying that our ropes are also certified according to Oeko-Tex 100.

Yes, definitely! Our work is natur­ally orien­ted on tried-and-tested models, but we try to keep on optimizing them. We also like to get our cus­tom­ers on board. Every Tau Stil product can be con­fi­gured indi­vidu­ally in the shop. It isn’t just the colors, rope thick­ness etc. that can be con­fi­gured, but also the padding. Whether fur or neoprene, a lot depends on the prefer­ences of the indi­vidual ani­mal. The same applies to dog col­lars. We also get a lot of custom orders. I find these exciting, be­cause they also give me new ideas. This is one of the reasons why I find it so impor­tant to spend time working with customers on the best pos­sible solution. Our camera strap, for exam­ple, is based on a cus­tomer request that found its way into our standard product range.

That too grew out of some special cus­tomer requests; I have such a lot of fun designing bracelets and key rings, and upgra­ding them with indi­vidual engravings on silver-plated and gold-plated tags. Dog, horse and human all in match­ing acces­sories. But the fash­ion acces­sories also look great on people who don’t have four-legged friends at their side. Inci­den­tally, I found the dev­elop­ment of our glasses cord partic­ularly interesting. It was origi­nally desig­ned for sun­glas­ses, but during the Covid-19 pandemic, customers hit on the idea of using these cords for their masks. We took up the idea, adapted the product to its purpose, and the result was an absolute bestseller. The mask cord is even used in hospitals and nursing homes.

I grab Panda and Clooney and take them for a long walk in the forest or along the Rhine. Or I go for a ride on my polo pony Turbina. Other­wise, I relax with a good book – although I prefer non-fic­tion to novels.

...an equally important family mem­ber and an indis­pensable part of my life – even though she has her own “apartment” rather than living with us at home.