How this all started:

For over 25 years we helped thousands of people create memories at Artbeat, our walk-in art studio in Arlington, MA. Mom Jan started it in 1996 with the mission to make it easy for everyone to have hands-on art experiences. Son Drai and his wife Virginia helped build the business, and together we developed new and fun ways to use sand as an art material.

In 2020, as the pandemic swept across the country, we closed our studio and moved our equipment to a private studio in Lowell, MA. There, we continued experimenting with sand, making sand paintings of people, pets, and landscapes, and as textured backgrounds in collage. 

At Artbeat we had observed how much people enjoy making things together when there’s no pressure to “get it right” or to have a particular outcome. We wanted to bring that same fun experience to a format that most adults can relate to, and can do at home.

We think of sand as Vitamin S…

…along with Social Contact. Psychologists say that social contact is essential to our lives. Social interaction, even among strangers, helps keep people mentally fit. We believe sand is also essential to our well-being.

Think about it: we humans have been playing with sand since the beginning of time. In fact, our first experience with sand as babies was probably mind blowing. Sand is found everywhere on the planet, from the rainforests to the arctic circle. Being of the earth, it literally grounds us, and soothes us by touch. It’s relaxing to use, whether we’re digging our fingers into it, scooping it into a bucket, or watching it fall through an hourglass. It’s naturally therapeutic and calming.

We wanted to design a product that would help foster connections and bring our lives into balance. We wanted to use sand because it is so deeply satisfying and versatile. 

More than ever, we need ways to de-stress and have fun and connect with each other. Sand can help us do that. 

The Power of Circles

We see the world through a circular field of vision. When we gather together, it’s often in a circle. The circle shape gives us comfort and a feeling of wholeness. Some reasons why were described beautifully by Oglala Sioux holy man Black Elk.

The power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round . . . The sky is round and I have heard the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars…birds make their nest in circles…The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same…Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. – from Black Elk Speaks by John G. Neihardt 

The ancient Sanskrit word for circle is mandala. Mandalas are used in religious rituals and cultural celebrations all over the globe. Hindu rangoli, First Nation medicine wheels, the Aztec sun, Celtic knots, and rose windows are all examples of the sacred circle. Mandalas can be made of flowers, rice, stones, sand, and other natural materials, carved in stone or fused in glass. 

Carl Jung, the founder of analytic psychology, found himself drawing circles to relax. The practice  reminded him of the sacred circles he had encountered around the world, and he felt that by making mandalas he was connecting not only to history but to all humankind. He said:

“I sketched every morning in a notebook a small circular drawing, a mandala, which seemed to correspond to my inner situation at the time… Only gradually did I discover what the mandala really is: … the Self, the wholeness of the personality, which if all goes well, is harmonious.”

Because mandalas can connect us to our inner selves and to our shared history, we believe making personal mandalas can be a way for us to explore the things we have in common as well as our differences. Making and meditating on mandalas can begin to bring us into connection to ourselves, to our inner truths, and to each other.

Where Sand and Circles Meet

Love for the earth. Respect for traditions. Our need for connection. A mother and son who like to make things together. All of these have come together to create…the Personal Sand Mandala Kit, a way to make sand mandalas with family and friends for a tactile, relaxing art experience and as a group art meditation.

We want everyone to experience working with sand in the ways we have, and to discover how making sand mandalas can help us relax, center ourselves, and focus on the present moment. 

At the same time, we are mindful of our shared need for de-stressing, in light of what we’ve all been through in the past few years (I know! We don’t want to talk about it!), and how therapeutic it can be to work with sand. We’re kind of talking about mental health. We think giving people the opportunity to work with sand, with its soothing texture and expressive colors, will help people feel better. It’s also an opportunity to connect with others in a shared experience.

Our mission is to bring positive change into the world, one personal mandala at a time. Making personal sand mandalas is a soothing experience that can combat stress, aid in the practice of mindfulness, and help combat isolation through a shared experience. 

For example, it can be:

• an immersive experience on your own to express how you’re feeling or to work through a complex thought or emotion
• shared with a group of friends on a nights-out gathering
• a fun family activity alternating with game night
• a group meditation during a yoga retreat 
• a team building activity 
• something fun and different for a group of teens who like to hang together
• therapy for someone upset or grieving 
• a soothing sensory experience for an older adult 
• a tactile sensory experience for someone with developmental disabilities
• a calming activity for someone who is neurodivergent
• an exploration of your own cultural history or of another world culture

What else you might like to know: 

The kit is made in the USA. The materials are eco-friendly and of the highest quality. The beautiful box is sturdy and reusable for keepsakes.

We’re family. To bring the sand mandala experience to the world, we are merging our creative and practical skills. Mom Jan, an imaginer and creator, along with son Drai, a designer and maker, have collaborated to design the kit and its contents. Virginia (married to Drai) is a yoga instructor and Reiki master who runs beachside retreats for women, and whose focus on holistic wellness, peace, beauty and balance helps inform our overall aesthetic.

How Thoughts Become Things

Right now our Sand Mandala kit is a prototype. We have everything lined up to go into production–and we’re going to need your help to make it happen. But a little background first.

Have you heard the maxim, Thoughts Become Things? Author and teacher Mike Dooley has made it his mission to remind us that there’s a kind of magic in how our thoughts become our beliefs, and our beliefs determine the reality that we experience and what we can accomplish.

It’s also true that in the physical world, everything new that is created first starts with a thought–an idea. We engage our imagination to build enough details that we can write it down or draw it. And then we act and bring it to life. 

The idea for our Sand Mandala Kit started when we imagined using the sand techniques we’d developed in our studio to address the creative needs of adults. With a beautiful mandala as our inspiration, we researched how mandalas are used across the globe, and thought about how all the materials might come together. We drew mandalas, working through many iterations to capture the design exactly as we wanted it.

We used an Xacto blade to hand-cut our first mandala into a mat board so that we could test the concept. After some adjustments, we had our final design fabricated into a steel die. With the die in hand, we could do test runs, making improvements to each aspect of the kit as we went along. Then we made digital renderings so that we could find the right company to print and manufacture the box. And now we have a physical prototype of the kit, encased in the beautiful box you see pictured here.

We’re very excited to bring this kit to life and to introduce a peaceful, beautiful, and centering activity to a chaotic world. Our goal is to have it ready by October, in time for the 2024 holidays.

But we can’t do it without your support. Creating a new product, made in the USA from responsibly sourced materials, is a costly endeavor, and we need help to make it happen. We ourselves are funding the research, testing, initial materials, prototypes and marketing. But more funds are needed to produce the kit and make it available to individuals, families, and community groups who want to bring the sand mandala experience into their lives. 

That’s why we’re doing a Kickstarter campaign

We are turning to Kickstarter to help fund production of our Personal Sand Mandala kit. 

Kickstarter will help us gauge the interest of a wider audience: you and the friends you tell about it, and also those who find us on social media. Although we’ve spent many hours developing the most beautiful and engaging way to make sand mandalas, and have tested it out with friends and family, the most important thing we need to know is whether you and others want it. 

If the answer is yes—and we’ll know through your pledges—we will go ahead with our first production run. Success means that we will be building a foundation for a long term business that will go on to further meet the needs of our communities by making sand mandalas available to community groups and to organizations that serve at-risk teens and adults. 

You can be part of bringing this vision to life.

We see making personal sand mandalas as a way to help address the growing mental health crisis across the country. A tactile, soothing experience that can combat stress, it can also aid in the practice of mindfulness, increase understanding through cultural enrichment, and help combat isolation through a shared experience. 

Our mission is to make this widely available so that everyone gains a beautiful tool for help to destress as well as a way to build community. In the future you may see our kit on the shelves of museum stores and in other high-end gift shops.

But first, we have to make it happen. Please join us!

Once our Kickstarter is funded, the kits will be available to you this coming October, just in time for the holidays!