Today we’d like to introduce you to Janet Roberts.
Janet, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am an eco-sustainable abstract painter who has had an off-grid home studio for over 30 years. I have raised four amazing daughters while painting and practicing mindfulness with them, practicing meditation, doing yoga with them, and visiting local Zen Monasteries and using my art as a tool to heal.. as I am a five time Cancer survivor… and we assist at-risk kids with my expressive arts programs in after-school mentoring programs throughout the country.
One afternoon, my eldest daughter, Hannah, suggested I create a few products to reproduce my images on, like the calendar and mugs and postcards many career artists create, as I have over 2000 paintings in my archives. I didn’t love that idea, but it seemed to be a great fit to research eco-sustainable rubber mats for meditation and yoga as we as a family and the kids we mentor would actually enjoy using them. And my patrons would love them as gifts, and they would be fantastic as a branding product as my people are all within the mindful community.
After some time and study, we found the perfect “green” product in California and a printer in Orange County who could print such an item using soy ink. My daughters chose the many images from my archives they felt would best translate to the mats, influenced by the elements of nature, water, air, earth, and fire.
My website designer who takes care of my Fine art website supported the creation of the Mat website, and soon we were up and running holiday of 2017, when we were voted one of the best Holiday gifts of the year in People Magazine. We do no advertising, just Instagram and Facebook and word of mouth, and we have a consistent and lovely flow of sales and many return patrons.
We do have several spas and hotels and retail clients but do not wholesale specifically due to such a narrow profit margin. These businesses are great fans of ours and simply represent us because they love our intention. 15% of our gross profits benefit the Mindful Life Project and their beautiful ongoing mission. Please see them at www.mindfullifeproject.org.
My four daughters enjoy the time they spend together at Mindful events and Pop-Ups throughout the country. They now bring along my grandchildren for workshops and support with sales! It is truly a mindful family lovefest!
Has it been a smooth road?
It has been a smooth ride. Having four daughters, each with strong skills in specific areas helpful to a startup like this one, it has been challenge free. Hannah has been the beautiful face of the company… and her people skills are like no other. Leah who is Operations Director at Not Your Daughter’s Jeans knows her spreadsheets and is smart as a whip…
Amanda is CEO of Show Me Your Mumu, and is an Instagram influencer and understands the value in social media and driving strong and effective branding. Belle, who is still in college, has free time to support Hannah with actual sales and shipping and logistics. They all are fitness and yoga and meditation practitioners ..so they walk the talk.
Because we can sell and ship one mat or twelve mats at a time, we have very little waste, and the sales pay for the mats themselves. The website alerts us when sales occur, and I make sure everything is printed and paid for… and since I am here painting and doing my business, as usual, banking and bookkeeping and speaking to the girls is easy.
One day, when I am retired in six years, and if the company is still steady with sales, and one or more of the girls is still interested in taking the helm, I will hand over my archives to them, and they can fly with it.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Working with my daughters is the most fulfilling aspect of this small business. It is what makes it unique and what makes it extraordinary. I am extremely proud that from my home, with my hands. I have painted thousands of paintings for over 30 years, that have sold and are out in the world on client’s homes and on walls.
In hospitals and spas and wellness centers and cancer support communities, and are now printed on beautiful meditation and yoga and fitness mats which people are also placing on the floors of their kitchens and at their swimming pools and in their boats and under their feet in their bathrooms…
That these images, these paintings were powerful enough to go this far a distance is, to me, amazing. And that my daughters share these intimate fulfillment with me makes it so much sweeter.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I reside in the country in the Salinas Valley, where John Steinbeck wrote: “Of Mice and Men”…and where he was born. I literally look out from my kitchen window to the 2000 acre ranch where he penned his novels. It is called “Pastures of Heaven.” One of his novels is titled and about this Valley.
I wouldn’t suggest anyone starting a contemporary business from here unless they want to run cattle, but an artist has never-ending inspiration here. There is no more beautiful place. The Mindful Mats is run out of my daughter’s office in Anaheim Hills and my other daughter’s second bedroom in West Hollywood. Those cities are more in line with business and civilization and pop culture…
Pricing:
- Retail each mat is 115.00
Contact Info:
- Address: 441 Corral De Tierra Rd
Corral De Tierra, CA. 93908 - Website: www.themindfulmats.com
- Phone: 8316014048
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @themindfulmats
- Facebook: the mindful mats
- Other: www.janetrobertsfineart.com
Image Credit:
Patrice Ward
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
