Yogi Bare
Kat Pither Founder

Hometree’s purpose is land regeneration, how does this align with your company/organisation?
Hometree is doing something real. Matt has mud on his boots and on his knuckles. Our conversations have felt like coming home to an old friend, a relief that others see and care for the world in the same way I do. Matt & Hometree are creating something with their hands, actively making a positive change and it makes me beyond proud to work with them. If I can help contribute to them achieving their vision in some small way, that is everything.

Some of the trees you are planting you will not see mature, together we are working towards more abundant and biodiverse future, in three or four sentences please describe what you would like to invite into the future?
I think that’s the most important metaphor – Nature will always surpass us and the world will go on without us. In what state and its fate is something we decided through our actions now.

I want to be at the forefront of the slow consumption movement. To me, this means making considered, conscious consumer choices and trusting in a brand crafted to have a longer lifespan than other products in the same category.

I believe there’s an intrinsic link between mental health and consumerism. We all have a hole inside us – for some, this is a mere pinprick, for others, this is a gaping crevice – and too often we try to fill this hole with stuff. Snap purchases made for an instant high that becomes more quickly forgotten the more we use shopping and fast fashion to plug our hole. The hole could look like heightened anxiety, severe stress, loneliness, un-fulfilment, sadness or a lack of purpose. When we slow down, take a step back and pull ourselves to the edge of our life whirlwind, we can see it top-down and make calmer decisions.

List two ways you support this invitation at present?
For now, we are handling creatively and have trialled successfully several times a mat repurposing scheme – collecting old yoga mats for a small discount on new to save them from landfill and give them to the homeless to provide a form of comfort for those sleeping rough or in shelters. Something that is theirs, as essentially PVC/TPE mats are camping mats. We conducted this with MY NAME IS HUMAN last Christmas and have since actioned it ourselves and will be officially rolling it out soon..

List two ways you would like to support this invitation in the future?
It is my duty to people and planet to provide education on materials and product and packaging choices. We are constantly improving and evolving each and every product, packaging and way of working. My aim is to create closed-loop production but it’s a long, expensive R&D project we are committing to long term.

Do you have a memory that to share about a tree/forests/nature?
To be there is nothing more real, more grounding than being in the forest. The sounds, the scents, the sense of the infinite and the finite. There is nothing more soothing for the soul. I’ll never forget being unable to fill my lungs enough with the sweet cedar smell of Yosemite National Park and spending the day exploring the never ending forest on horseback.

Other than Hometree can you celebrate other ways you or your organisation supports a healthier environment?
To be connected to the real. We’ve plonked a very strange, very fake “world" on top of Mother Earth. A “world” which invented a single-use substance that can’t break down. A “world” which values new new new, now now now. Everything seems disposable and to serve an instant gratification. Its not our fault, we were born into these norms but I feel like its all so fast. When we slow down, we see things for what they are, we connect with and see the nature underneath it all. And once we see it again, it can’t be unseen and we don’t want to hurt it. Slowing down also helps us make better choices in all aspects of our lives, including remembering our keep cups and realising that the weird neon dress that the internet is telling us we need isn’t really us and we don’t need it to be more. Better choices build into a kind rebellion. My sustainability pledge is to slow down to write the new normal.

Yogi Bare mats are crafted from sustainable and biodegradable materials and non-toxic, water-based inks. We’ve spent time visiting our factory to not only meet our standards but also in spending that time you see the actual process of manufacture first hand and most importantly how the people creating our products workday looks. Thats so important to me, that Yogi Bare comes from a happy place, from the day the idea for first hits me and that flash of inspiration, to the day someone has a moment of magic on their mat, the whole chain is happy. Maybe that’s a weird energetic thing but it matters to me. Beyond the product I want this business to have meaning and purpose. For every Wild Paws mat sold, we plant a tree with Matt Smith and hometree Ireland and our latest mat, Luna Paws, donates to the ocean by supporting the work of Sea Shepherd.

We’d love to hear and share any key lessons that life has taught you, in as little or man words as you like.
My dad, the most gentle and brave man I know recently told me that when he left for Canada age 17 without a clue, just the desire to see and experience he had to inspire himself. I love that idea of finding inspiration within yourself. It means you are really connected and cool with who you are. We live our lives in a honeycomb of comparison and emulation, sure it's great to look at others to admire their creative stimulus but perhaps it's time we started to cultivate our inspirations from within, embracing our unique capacity and vastness. One of my favourite authors, Henry Beston, has really enhanced and enriched my appreciation of and the importance of drawing from nature. He manages to capture and frame the rapture of what was seemingly indescribable in the most enchanting way. His words add so much value and connection to my life, both in terms of connection to nature as our greatest influencer and connection to shared consciousness with others. “In a world older and more complete than ours, animals move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.” We are all connected, we all influence one another.