Yogamatata: eco-designed mats and accessories for worry-free yoga practice

In recent years, Yoga has attracted more and more followers, convinced by the values ​​of respect for others and non-violence transmitted by this practice. Only, there is a catch… Most of the necessary equipment comes from the other side of the world and is made from plastic derivatives. So, to remedy this and be in line with their values, Ondine Martinez and Johanna Stauffer have created yogamatata, a brand of Yoga accessories made from recycled and natural materials. Discovery!

Who are you and what do you do?

I am Ondine, I created Yogamatata in 2018, after leaving my job as an employee in the communication of a small company. I was quickly joined by my friend and associate Johanna, whom I had met a few years earlier while cultivating a vegetable garden together in the suburbs of Paris (crazy, but true!). Johanna was a computer scientist. Neither of us had studied commerce or business management: we learned everything on the job! We are big bosses and we love challenges!

In effect, we fully own and run the business together. We have no other shareholders and no bank loans. Our goal is to stay 100% free in our decisionseven if it is a difficult and completely counter-current entrepreneurial path!

Photo: Yogamatata – Delphine Joly: Ondine Martinez and Johanna Stauffer

Can you introduce us to Yogamatata?

Yogamatata are yoga props who put in adequacy the values ​​of yoga (benevolence, non-violence) and the material used during practice. For this, we use natural materials, we produce locally whenever possible, and we make sure that the confection is done in an ethical way.

We are in a perpetual quest for improvement : we are looking for better materials, always more eco-responsible, local and sustainable, and we try to produce closer and closer… it’s our engine from day one. We know that our products will never be sufficiently eco-responsible, ethical or sustainable, but these are the objectives that guide all our choices, and which are and will be our priority!

Our core business is cork and natural rubber yoga mat. Our greatest pride is the recycled yoga mat made 100% in Portugal from recycled cork and recycled natural rubber. We also design yoga bricks (made of cork, in Portugal), as well as yoga bags and straps (made with organic cotton, in India in a fair trade workshop). We have extended our offer to a range of organic herbal teas made in France, but also organic soaps cold saponified and made in Paris!

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Photo: Yogamatata – Delphine Joly

Why did you decide to embark on this adventure?

When I created Yogamatata in 2018, I practiced yoga with passion and I was already very committed to a responsible consumption approach. I even had a blog on the subject, which is still active: praiseofcuriosity ! In my quest for a more responsible yoga mat, I ran into reality: the yoga mats are basically designed to from various plastics and/or in Asia, under completely obscure conditions. So I got it into my head to do better, and one thing leading to another, yogamatata has become a business and a life project!

What message do you want to convey through Yogamatata?

We can be a womannever having learned to create or manage a business, not coming from an affluent social background (which facilitates many paths), and want to tackle a professional sector full of bad practices, with a view to bringing about changes in accordance with its own values. It can work! It’s crazy.

I hope the adventure of Yogamatata will not only inspire people practicing yoga to think about their purchases in connection with this practice, as we already do more and more for food, cosmetics, clothing…, and will also inspire women to embark on entrepreneurship !

Want to make your more responsible yoga practice ? Meeting on Yogamatata website to discover the mats and bricks made from natural materialsas well as the other products of the brand.

We would like to give thanks to the author of this post for this amazing material

Yogamatata: eco-designed mats and accessories for worry-free yoga practice


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