Ma is for Mother Nature

In the very beginnings while conceiving this brand, I was sitting with my Irish friend and fellow artist, Andreas, brainstorming brand names. After an hour or so of hitting a wall of clichés, he pondered aloud "I wonder what the word for 'make' is in Sanskrit?" As an artist, yoga enthusiast, and newly turned weaver (I learned how to weave in order to make prototypes for The Ritual Rug) I decided he was on to something... so we looked it up, and the answer? Ma; to make, produce, create. Our jaws dropped. How cool! The word for 'create' is the same word we use to call our mothers? Is this a coincidence? I think not.

 Ma; to make, produce, create.

The concept of 'Ma' bridges various cultures around the world; East, West, North and South, and they all point to a similar meaning- Mother, or more broadly speaking, The Feminine. In the west, for instance, (other than being shorthand for Mother) Ma is the feminine Latin root prefix (as opposed to Pa, which is the masculine prefix.) So words like "matrix" or "matriarch" contain the Ma prefix, and therefore relate to the feminine entity. Isn't that cool? No? Nerdy? Well I guess it's just my nature to nerd out!

Speaking of nature... I quickly began associating the name Ma with "Mother Nature" the Ma everyone on the planet shares, and this became the premise for our brand name.

With Ma as my muse, when I set out to create The Ritual Rug, I had to contend with the messy fact that I would be adding to consumer culture, something that seemed a bit contrary to caring deeply about the well-being of the planet. More “stuff” is probably the last thing we all need, right? So the question was- how do I have The Ritual Rug manufactured in a way that feels consistent with my values? Where I don’t believe any product can be perfectly sustainable, there are definitely intentional decisions one can make along the way that equate to balancing out the carbon footprint of manufacturing a new product.

Here is how we, at Ma, approach sustainability:

• In-person Sourcing

• Artisan/Traditional Manufacturing 

• Simplicity 

• Earth friendly materials (regardless if they’re more expensive)

• Premium pricing 

• Versatility

I hope you all found this as interesting as I do! Over the last century, as consumerism has become rampant, we’ve become more and more distant from and out of touch with the supply chains that support the products we love. I truly believe that to become more in sync with Mother Nature, we need to become more intentional behind what we spend our money on. Thanks so much for caring about our planet, and please, reach out if you have any questions around our supply chain- we believe full transparency is the way forward for conscious consumerism.

To learn about the story of how I sourced materials and production for The Ritual Rug, check out my interview on The Ecopreneur podcast. 

xoxo

Kelly

Founder/ CEO