Tala Bin Hussain, 22, discovered her passion for collecting rubber duck during a trip to Paris. What began as a small fascination soon grew into a hobby as her collection quickly expanded. Embracing her love for ducks, Tala didn’t just keep them for herself; she generously distributed over 600 duck toys to friends and even strangers, sharing her quirky enthusiasm with people.

Kuwait Times: What sparked your interest in rubber ducks, and how did it evolve?

Tala: It all started when I started driving. The first place I went to was a pizza place that gives a free rubber duck with every pizza, I went there two times after that, so I had my first 3 ducks. After that I traveled to Paris, in the Oprah Merch shop, an American lady named Allison suggested I should buy a rubber Mozart duck - and from that day I started collecting character ducks.

KT: When did you start collecting the ducks? At what age?

Tala: I collected my first duck when I was 19 in Paris. In my last day, I saw rubber duck shop called Paris duck store, I did not have time to go in but my mom went back after two months and bought me five rubber ducks: a groom and bride, a hippie ducks, a dancer duck and mafia duck.

KT: How many ducks do you have?

Tala: I used to have 60 ducks in my collection, but I kept them all in my cars dashboard but this year with the extreme heat some of them got extremely damaged, so I had to take them down. Right now, I have 40 ducks in my car. I distributed more than 600 regular rubber ducks to my friends and people around.

KT: Can you share some interesting facts about rubber ducks?

Tala: In 1992, there was a shipping container that had around 20,000 rubber ducks and they were swept off the boat that was going from China to USA and to this day, people are still finding ducks on shores across the globe. This helped scientists to learn about how ocean currents move - depending on the season.

KT: How do your friends and family feel about your duck obsession?

Tala: They all think it is weird. I’m known as the "Rubber Duck Girl” by my professors, but everyone loves my obsession at least twice a week, I send and receive Instagram posts about ducks.

KT: Tell us the strangest situation you were in because of your ducks?

Tala: People will just randomly come up to me and ask for a rubber ducks. Sometimes, I’d catch people taking pictures of my car. But the strangest is when my dad has to take my car for servicing, the workers laughed at my dad. He told them "this is my daughter’s car - not mine”. They beg to take pictures of the ducks.

KT: Do you have a favorite piece? Why?

Tala: My most valuable duck is the one my brother used up all his allowance to buy me - a Harley Quinn duck. It is more valuable to me. I love all character ducks but strangely, I love rubber ducks. I have a peacock and cow ducks. I’m currently searching for lady bug and bee ducks.

KT: Did you sell any of your ducks?

Tala: I view my ducks as my children. I would never sell a rubber duck but I give people a plain ordinary duck if they ever ask for one. I have a box of backup in my car in case someone asks of any.

KT: Are there any rubber duck that you’re currently searching for?

Tala: Currently, I’ve been looking everywhere for the Sheikh rubber duck, zodiac duck, cherry blossom duck, gold duck, Rubik’s cube duck and duck with passport stamps.

KT: Have you faced any challenges while building your collection?

Tala: Kuwait’s weather is very unforgiving. I have to take down the ducks when the weather is above 50 otherwise they’ll get damaged. I don’t have any space on my dashboard anymore.

KT: Did you ever customize your own duck?

Tala: I want to create myself and to create ones based on Kuwaiti pop culture like "Khalti gmasha” characters (a 1983 Kuwaiti comedy-drama series) - but that would cost me a lot.

KT: What is your future plan?

Tala: I have dream of opening my own rubber duck shop in Kuwait and have custom ducks based on Kuwaiti culture. The past couple of years, I’ve noticed a bunch of car with rubber ducks on their dashboards. I think it would be better to introduce this in Kuwait with a twist - based of our history.