This week’s Design Highlight is my very own The Earth Laughs in Flowers yoga mat, whose title was taken from the poem Hamatreya by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The poem itself is…well, it’s a bit dark, being as it is about his Concord, New Hampshire neighbors who boast about their ownership of their beautiful farmland:
…
Earth laughs in flowers, to see her boastful boys
Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs;
Who steer the plough, but cannot steer their feet
Clear of the grave…
Like I said: dark. Nevertheless, I thought it was a beautiful title for this riotous bloom of violets and roses! As I wrote in our description:
After enduring a dark, cold, snowy winter, spring feels particularly hopeful to me. Dormant trees awaken and unfold their leaves, the air chirps with new life, and splashes of color burst through the white blankets of snow. And when I bend to admire the fresh blossoms, the world slows down, and I can’t help but wonder if this tiny moment is filled with anything other than joy.
This energetic (and optimistic!) bouquet was originally created as a test for our custom bridal work. When we first began exhibiting our yoga mats at live events earlier this year (rather than remaining a strictly online business), we had more than one bride-to-be come up to us and say “Oh my god. I LOVE these! I’m getting married and this would a GREAT bridesmaid gift!” At that point, inspiration struck — what if we offered to create a different custom design for each bridal party, a design that took into account the bride’s wedding colors and bouquet flowers, and we could even tuck the date of the wedding into the design of the mat, just like we hide the words “Big Raven” in each of our mats?
Photo courtesy of the amazing @meghanjoytoday!
(Yes, she owns this exact mat!)
This has turned into kind of a big deal for us, and with the summer wedding season upon us we’ve been really busy working with brides to create custom designs that are exactly right for them! (Which is really our subtle way of saying that if you’re thinking of custom Big Raven-designed yoga mat as your bridesmaids' gifts, now is probably the time to drop us a line to get your ideas in our queue so they’re ready for your big day. Alternatively, if you’re a bridesmaid, and you’d love to get one of our beautiful microfiber suede yoga mats as a thank-you gift from your bride, it’s probably time to start dropping subtle hints of your own to your bride and/or twisting her arm a bit :-)
By the way, if you’re looking for someone to help coordinate a yoga event for your bridal party, check out our friend, the beautiful Nicki Lemmon — she has some amazing ideas for yoga parties, including bridal events!
She’s the founder of Lemmon Yoga and is an experienced (and registered!) yoga teacher with a bachelors degree in kinesiology from the University of Minnesota. She has over 1000 hours of teaching experience in vinyasa, yin, sculpt and barre, but she specializes in yoga for teams and athletes, bachelorette parties, yoga parties, private sessions, bridal parties and retreats. And she always brings the fun: beer flow, glow yoga, body paint, partner yoga and more! Get in touch with her through Facebook or Instagram today!
Anyway, I hope you love our vibrant and colorful The Earth Laughs In Flowers yoga mat as much as I do! To help you love it even more, this design is $10 off this week only (Monday 5/20 through this Sunday, 5/26) using the promo code HA! at checkout!
