“Kippie” announced as new TGOS Official Mascot

I was looking for a cool African name for the Tattooed Giraffe Organic Soaps mascot, and I read an article on how important the baby-naming ceremony is for African Villages. If you are interested in reading it, the article is available at https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-37912748 (hopefully). The article is Africa’s naming traditions: Nine ways to name your child. 

Folks have asked why I chose the name “Tattooed Giraffe’ for the soap company. I have always liked giraffes. I find them very majestic and graceful, and have to say they are my favorite animal. I find myself imagining how exciting it would be to see them in the wild, on safari. When I finally decided to make the business a go, I started searching for available artwork that involved giraffes. I wanted a giraffe to be part of the logo, but hadn’t decided really what things would look like. I’m not sure how many people have looked at the vast amount of artwork that is available for business use, but it is a ton!

I found the current logo and several others, pretty quickly. I took that as a sign that the samples were right, and asked family and friends their thoughts. I was certainly leaning toward the current giraffe used in the logo, as it appears to have actual tattoos on it, as part of the design. Ultimately, that choice won and I added the graphics and tag line myself. It came together pretty quickly and I was happy with it. Trademark search was a part of my legal consultation, and there were no other businesses (at the time) named Tattooed Giraffe. 

The soap production came before the search for a mascot. When I finally did get time to look, I found this toy which I believed best represented the company. I took one of the samples and attempted to color in the skin portions, between the spots, with colored sharpies. It did not turn out well. I will leave the tattoo marks on the mascot, to the imagination. Then came the mascot’s name. I searched for Giraffe names (can you believe there is a list), and I did not like any of them. It was fun to read excerpts about famous gifts to kings, and giraffes who were given from one country to another.

I then found a particular Swahili name that was interesting. It was okay, but not perfect. Then I stumbled upon the word for “bubbles”, which was Kiputo. That was perfect, and settled. We will use “Kippie” for short. So concludes the story. Keep checking back on other information I will blog. This has been a very long journey, and I am excited for where it will take me. The combination of a necessary production of my soap for personal use, starting a business to share that with others, the information on maintaining the commitment to organic ingredients, and jumping “into the deep end” has been incredible. Take Care. -Marilee