During my time at uni I found out lots about myself, including the fact I love yoga, I practised yoga every day when I got home from uni and it helped me to develop in many different areas of my life. I often found myself doing my uni work whilst stretching on my yoga mat, mainly because I didn't feel I had enough time to do them separately... I'm sure most people who have studied a fashion and textiles course can relate. Over time my mat got more and more splattered with paint and dyes and one day I just looked at it and said to myself “I want to design a yoga mat”. Yoga helped me to heal mentally and physically whilst enabling my creativity to flow more naturally in a more authentic way.
I was in the middle of my final major project at university when this idea sprang to mind and I was looking into the use of natural healing methods, particularly looking into the use of plants throughout history as my source of inspiration. My ideas began from my love for aromatherapy, how every different oil has so many healing qualities for mental and physical ailments, my final collection had a close connection to the seven chakras by using both colour and the plants associated with them. This is how The Chakra Yoga Mat came into this reality.
The Sattva Yoga Mat was my second design, inspired by the flow of water, the nature and freedom of it the movement and energy it creates. I plan one day to live on a boat and sail across the seas, but until that day I plan to flow on this yoga mat to help myself and others feel close to it. I call this the Sattva Yoga Mat because I have tried to encompass the meaning of Sattva energy through the art on this mat; upward moving, pure, inspiring and joyful.
Forest Flow - my third yoga mat design - was inspired by one of my favourite places on this Earth, Mallorca. I feel like I am in a Jurassic Park movie when driving through the hills blanketed by the most beautiful plants and overlooking the bluest oceans. The healing energies of the natural world hug you wherever you are on this island and I have painted my interpretation of this on this mat so you can have it wherever you are. Green is the colour of the Heart Chakra and of love so by flowing on a mat covered in so much green you are opening yourself for deeper love, compassion, growth and transformation - which is magic in my opinion. The blue connects you to the divine, blue energy is healing and calming, it helps you to communicate with clarity and express yourself authentically.
MARI is my way of combining various healing techniques together, my passion for art, colour and yoga inspired me to create a collection of products that bring these three things together to help heal and inspire others. Everything that inspires my designs come from the natural world that surrounds us, it helps me feel more connected to nature in this modern world. Through this connection i endeavour to make sure that everything that I design and make is ethical and environmentally friendly, working with nature rather than against it and to give back as much as I take from this earth.
I hope that this has helped you to get more of an idea about what inspires me and what kind of designer I am. Not, 'blimey this gal really does talk a load of nonsense' haha. Anyway that’s me done for now, until next time... over and out. xo