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Yoga mats and wine coolers--do we need all this stuff?

By Rain Noe - March 13, 2009

in Object Culture

I tried a yoga class at one of those touchy-feely yoga centers. Everyone came in with one of those rolled-up mats.

The instructor offered me a mat. I declined; she, and everyone around me, looked at me like I was crazy. But when you see photos or drawings of the guys who invented yoga, they're always sitting on some bare mountaintop without that silly waffle-ized rubber thingy, no?

I feel the same way about yoga mats that I feel about Kalorik's new dual wine cooler--does this thing truly augment the experience, and is this what the inventors of the subject matter had in mind? It's true I'm not an oenophile, so I'm speaking from a position of relative ignorance. What do you think, do we need this stuff?

This is what the Kalorik does, by the way:

Two wireless temperature probes insert into uncorked wine bottles, sealing the spout while sending accurate temperature readings of the wine itself (not the storage chamber) to LCDs on the outside of the chiller. Each chamber's thermostat can be programmed to different temperatures, allowing you to chill a bottle of red and a bottle of champagne simultaneously (or chill one bottle at a time).

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Scott

15 years ago

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I personally think that if you need the glowing lights on your sexy iPod to feel good about yourself, then you should search for something a little bigger in your life. How has it come that lifestyle products are now the defining points of our culture, and my life is defined by my purchases?

The blog ToasterFlamingo has a great entry about some other really cool products here: http://toasterflamingo.blogspot.com/2009/03/fit-for-pit.html, such as the electric martini shaker.
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Tom

15 years ago

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Wine cooler for a wine lover is a GADGET.
A mat for yoga practicing person is a MUST.

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Lee Gibson

15 years ago

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"What do you think, do we need this stuff?"

Who's we, and what business is it of ours?

You don't want to use a yoga mat or a wine chiller. Fine...neither do I. Who cares? There's no existential crisis here. No paradigm that needs to be changed.

Just different people with different priorities.
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Chase Carlton

15 years ago

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I went through my kitchen appliances the other day, and was amazed at what I found: a waffle maker, a belgian waffle maker, a blender, a food processor, a mini food processor, a crock pot, a bigger crock pot, a fondue pot, an ice crusher, a bread maker, and a george foreman grill. I haven't used any of those in over six months.

So, no. There's no need for all this fluff. All it does is clutter our lives and our cabinets.
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David Beck

15 years ago

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When you get an infection when you don't use a mat, let us know how that works out for you.
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Nicholas

15 years ago

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Well, I don't have a television, microwave, large refrigerator, a large house, a car, or a dog, but I do have a nice yoga mat. I am also doing teacher training, and I'd love for you to see the build up of deposits in my teacher's knees from years of demonstrating on a thin mat. Simply because one does not understand a need, does not make it illegitimate. But, that's what we designers are for, to tell people how to live, often without a complete understanding.
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Steve Portigal

15 years ago

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I appreciate the sentiment and I don't necessarily disagree but designers should be making stuff for someone else and maybe the question is - without judging - what is it about this that someone else would want?

I think the word "need" gets thrown around without enough thought. As if emotional or spiritual needs aren't valid and only functional ones are. Go back to your Maslow's hierarchy; those are all needs. If people can be excited about glowing lights on their sexy iPod, in-car dashboard, HDTV, why not their wine cooler? The aesthetic of technology makes people feel a certain way about themselves and their possessions. That's a valid need, IMHO.
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