“I then took the idea to kickstarter, and it raised $108,000 in 30 days. All of a sudden I had the upfront cash I needed to start production. That’s the beauty of the Internet; it allows you to share your ideas with a like-minded community that will help support a project with a ‘pre-order'”
— DAN ARAMSON, DESIGNER
We have always known soldiers to stage violence and destruction. But this new breed of soldier toys are practising the message of peace, and that too, through yoga postures. San Francisco-based designer DAN ARAMSON has created an army of green Yoga Joes in order to popularise yoga among young boys and men. What started as a fun project a couple of years back has become a successful business model. In an exclusive interaction with Born of Web, the designer-entrepreneur talks about his designs, striking synergy between art and commerce and how yoga is transforming lives in the West.
When and how did this idea click you to create such toys?
I was having coffee with my friend Paul Simmons (a San Francisco comedian), we were brainstorming funny ways to make yoga more manly. In the US, a lot of women practise yoga, so a lot of men think its for women only. So it hit us like a ton of bricks – the classic green plastic army men toys, only doing yoga! Their little platforms could be replaced with little green yoga mats. And the green army men toys were already in very similar gestural poses to yoga. Yoga Joes were born in a San Francisco coffee shop. At the time I thought that we might do a set of 3D-print and take funny pictures. But I never thought it would grow to be such a globally distributed, mass-produced toy. I’m still in disbelief.
What do you want to highlight through green toys in yoga postures?
The project became a quest to encourage more young boys, men, and military folks to consider yoga. I wanted them to know that yoga is for them too. And I thought they were funny. I also enjoyed making a violent toy become peaceful. While an American soldier practising yoga, at first, may look like a contradiction, Yoga Joes began to really resonate with the military community. It became clear that soldiers doing yoga is, in fact, very common. And yoga celebrates a soldier’s most admirable qualities: discipline, focus, and a desire to bring peace where there is pain.
Tell us about your encounter with yoga.
I injured my back five years ago, and started going to physical therapy. And then around the same time my advertising agency job started offering free yoga classes during lunchtime. I noticed that the yoga poses were the same as physical therapy stretches. So I switched to yoga. Yoga was the sport I never thought I’d get into – but turned out to be the antidote to my chronic back pain. When I went to class it stretched the exact muscle that had clenched my lower side back. Twists saved my life.
So once I started to really enjoy yoga, I wanted to tell more people about it. Especially guys who thought it was only for women. One day when carrying my girlfriend’s pink yoga mat to yoga class, I joked that I should design funny yoga products to make men feel more manly about doing yoga. So I started making manly yoga bags and mats, like a giant burrito or a giant log (downward-facing log).
So yoga for dudes! Why?
I’m a dude, and it did take a bit of a leap of faith to attempt a sport that is seemingly dominated by women. I spent my first class, kicking up against a wall, because I had accidentally walked into an advanced level class. Sure, it was awkward at first, but it was so very worth it. And so, I wanted to make funny yoga products that essentially lowered the barrier to entry for people, who might not readily try yoga. Sometimes guys just need an injury excuse to get them in the door. I’ve found yoga has had incredibly restorative effects on my chronic back pain. Every time I do yoga, it basically “resets” my back. So I tell my guy friends to try yoga to fix their backpain. And that’s how I got my 72-year-old father to finally try yoga! They’re called Yoga Joes because its a classic name for an American soldier, an “everyday Joe” who’s just enlisted in the army.
Since yoga has originated from India, is there any link to Indian philosophy?
I think people like the peaceful message of the Yoga Joes, which definitely get its origins from India. But in this case, its “funny” peace. The classic green army men toy is often very serious and gun-toting, but when people see the Yoga Joes being meditative and self-reflective, they tend to laugh. I think messages of peace are often delivered with a lot of seriousness, and in this case, people seem to be enjoying a peaceful message that’s also kind of funny too.
Do you come to India?
I’ve never been to India, but I’d love to visit one day.
Can you tell us about the business of these products and demand globally?
The military community got really into Yoga Joes! There’s a humungous community of people in the military that are really into the practice of yoga. Whether it be for all around physical training exercises, or to treat veterans for post-traumatic stress. Messages poured in from armies all over the world (not just my home country) from soldiers that have found benefits in yoga, and wanted to convince others to do the same. There’s something to do with the physical training and discipline of a soldier, on a universal level, that grooves well with the practice of yoga. I quickly realised I had stumbled upon something bigger than myself.
This was great because it connected me with really great non-profits that bring yoga to soldiers. I connected with a great organisation called Connected Warriors, and we were able to get Yoga Joes to Afghanistan! It was so cool, because this project was designed to convince more people to try yoga, and there it was in pictures of the Yoga Joes getting soldiers to sign up for yoga class at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan.
What would say on merging art with commerce successfully?
When I first told my friends about the Yoga Joes idea, they told me that it was a good idea, but that no one would really want to pay money for it. But it was one of those ideas that was annoyingly good, I couldn’t let it go. I had to keep developing it, just to get it out of my system. So at first glance, it appeared to be a good art idea, but a bad commercial idea.
I then took the idea to kickstarter, and it raised $108,000 in 30 days. All of a sudden I had the upfront cash I needed to start production. I was too stunned to enjoy the moment. I was frantically figuring out how to actually make these toys! That’s the beauty of the Internet; it allows you to share your ideas with a like-minded community, that will help support a project with a “pre-order.” The pre-order trend is is happening a lot now, and its allowing a lot of ideas to blossom that don’t immediately appear commercially viable.
How can one order your products?
They’re mostly sold on my site, www.yogajoes.com. They’re also being sold in some pretty cool museum stores, like the SF MoMa Store, The Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, the Denver Art Museum, and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. Its quite an honour to be in museum stores!
Do you participate in exhibitions?
No, I don’t consider myself an exhibiting artist. I’m but a humble toymaker… 🙂
