DockATot baby pods marry fashion with function

By Linda A. Thompson | Photos: DockATot

When Lisa Furuland Kotsianis founded her mother and baby care product brand in 2006, it offered just one product – pods. Today, DockATot has become a global brand, relied on by millions of parents, with an award-winning product range that includes everything from futons and baskets to play tents.

It’s not uncommon for parents-to-be to feel overwhelmed by the transition into parenthood. Many new parents also feel forced into preconceptions of the products they need and what those should look like.

Lisa Furuland Kotsianis felt the exact same way after the birth of her first son. Determined that fashion and function could make a happy marriage, she set out to make a change.

The business she ended up creating from her home in Norrtälje, a town on Sweden’s east coast, offers new parents premium pods and loungers that balance aesthetics and functionality – a rare combination in the mother and baby care products market.

DockATot baby pods marry fashion with function

“Whether someone comes to DockATot because they’re attracted to our aesthetics or because we were recommended to them as a ‘must-have’ for function, I think parents are surprised to find that we offer solutions that combine and balance both,” Furuland Kotsianis explains. “We subscribe to the quote by the celebrated British designer William Morris: ‘Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.’”

The DockATot pods provide safe and comfortable spaces for the supervised lounging, cuddling and playing of little ones, and at the same time have become industry leaders in design, testing and fashion. “We seek to develop products that create lasting memories and stay with families for generations, with safety, functionality and luxury at the forefront of everything we do,” explains Furuland Kotsianis, adding that all their docks are made from the highest-grade materials and that they undergo extensive, rigorous testing before being brought to the market.

Award-winning products in homes across the globe

Over the years, the business that Furuland Kotsianis founded has developed into a global company, with the company’s team, supply chain and networks of suppliers today operating in multiple time zones across the world. The decision was also recently made to merge the brand’s name from SleepyHead of Sweden into that of its global sister company, DockATot. “By consolidating the two brands, we are better able to communicate with and bring together our community of parents and caregivers,” Kotsianis explains.

The company’s award-winning product range has also expanded with time and today features a broad range of statement-making solutions for feeding, travel, playtime, rest and the home. This includes, for instance, futons, nursing and decorative pillows, baskets and play tents, with dreamy, playful names like Strawberry Thief, Brer Rabbit and Ginger Shibori. The available styles are equally varied, from regal romance to English countryside chic.

“What makes our brand truly unique is our approach to design and attention to detail,” Furuland Kotsianis explains. “Whether it’s achieving the most functional design of a dock or the prettiest tassel on a nursing pillow, every detail has been handcrafted and meticulously thought out.”

DockATot baby pods marry fashion with function

All the company’s products – no matter their aesthetic or function – meet DockATot’s key ethos of being both family-friendly and parent-proud. Furuland Kotsianis explains: “This means they should spark creativity, joy and imagination, or answer a very real need. We are dedicated to making things that enrich everyday life and enhance spaces in which memories are created.”¬¬

It’s an approach that has resonated with millions of new parents. Some products, like La Maman Wedge, for instance – a chic nursing pillow that also serves as a decorative cushion – have sold out numerous times.

How does Furuland Kotsianis look at the path she has travelled so far? “It’s been an incredible journey,” she says. “What started in Norrtälje as a solution for a frustrated parent has grown to be welcomed into families’ homes across the globe.”

The road ahead promises to be equally exciting, with new products on the horizon for the company’s line of baby essentials and its home collection product range.

Furuland Kotsianis will also be deepening the DockATot commitment to sustainability in the years and decades to come. “This is something our industry needs to provide more focus on as we think about the families we will serve in generations to come,” she says.