OUR BEGINNING / BY MATTHEW RODRIGUEZ
IT STARTED
WITH Grandma.
Inspired by my grandmother. Designed for everyday life.
A stack of blankets.
A place on the floor.
A memory that stayed.
When I was a child, my grandmother refused to sleep in her bed. She said it made her back feel worse. Every night, she made a place for herself from layers of blankets on the living-room floor. She said it felt better for her.
Years later, when I experienced back discomfort myself, I remembered what she used to do.
I had also worked as a massage therapist in a chiropractor’s office. The wooden treatment table and my experience with firm pressure shaped my interest in a firmer resting surface.
I wanted that firmer feeling without sleeping on my basement floor.
Matthew Rodriguez, recalling the first prototype
02 / AN EVERYDAY ANSWER
A PLACE
OF my own.
My bedroom was in a basement, and I did not want to sleep on the floor. So I bought plywood, cut it to size and glued a yoga mat onto it for cushioning.
I put it beneath my bed sheet. I made it fit my side of the bed so the person next to me could keep their usual sleeping surface.
It stayed flat. I could leave it under the sheet or put it away between mattresses, under the couch or beneath the couch cushions where it fit.
That handmade solution became BackMat. Now I’m working toward a finished version, with the cover construction still being finalized and the same idea at its heart: a firm surface for your own space.
Meet the matTHE THOUGHT THAT STAYS.
Your space.
Your preference.
This is Matthew’s personal account of how BackMat began. His experience and his grandmother’s preference do not establish a medical benefit for the product.