Most days end without ending...
You close your laptop, but your mind keeps replying to the email. You leave the office, but you're still inside the conversation you had at 2pm. The day is technically over —
your nervous system just hasn't been told.
SOLUMA makes objects for the hours between the day ending and you finally
noticing it ended.
WHY THIS EXISTS
My name is Jackie Ren.
Ten years ago, I co-founded a company with someone I considered a brother. We
worked hard. We succeeded. And then — the way it often goes in business — we
came apart. Different priorities. Different values. The kind of breakage that doesn't
just end a company, it ends something inside you that you thought was solid.
So I left. I walked away from the company, from the partnership, from the version of
myself that had been holding everything together for years. I needed to find a way to
stay. Not stay successful. Just stay.
I started reading the Daoist texts I had heard about my whole life but never actually
opened. Wei Dao Ri Sun — the way is revealed through subtraction, not accumulation. Zhi xu shou jing — empty yourself, and stillness will return. Two thousand years ago, someone had already written down exactly what I needed to hear.
And slowly, I started building what I came to call my own return ritual — small
physical objects that gave my nervous system a way back. The scent of struck wood
when I smelled it. The weight of a bagua spinning in my palm. The single ring of a
small bell at the end of the day. A cup of tea I made slowly enough that the making
was the point. A lamp I turned on not because it was dark, but because I needed a
signal that the day was allowed to end.
They didn't fix me. But they gave me something to put my hand on. And on the
hardest days, that was enough.
Some time later, I was talking with a friend — Miles Zhang, an airline captain. The
work he does is physically punishing in a way most people don't see: time zones
broken every week, sleep that never resets, the kind of pressure that doesn't end when
you land. We started talking about how each of us was getting through it. And we
realized — without planning it, without ever discussing it before — we had both
found our way back through the same things. The same five senses. The same old
Daoist instinct of putting down rather than reaching for more.
Two completely different lives. Same way home.
That conversation became SOLUMA.
The name combines “sol” (light) and “luma” (illumination), but the idea behind it is
simpler than that. It reflects a belief at the heart of Daoism: nothing essential is
missing. Clarity is not something you chase. It's what remains when you stop carrying
what was never yours. We are not enlightened. We are not teachers.
We are two people who, in two very different kinds of difficulty, found that something written down two thousand years ago — and held in objects that have been made the same way for centuries — gave us a way to come back to ourselves.
SOLUMA exists for the moment you realize you've been carrying too much, for too
long, and most of it was never yours. The work isn't to add anything. It's to find a way
to put it down. We hope these objects help you do that. They helped us.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
We don't believe you're missing anything.
Most wellness jewelry and spiritual braceletsin this category promise you
something. Wealth. Luck. Protection. The right energy to attract what you don't have
yet.
SOLUMA is the opposite of that.
We don't believe you're missing anything. We believe you've been carrying too much
— most of it not yours to carry — and that the work isn't to add more, but to put down
what's been draining you. For people who already have enough things telling them what to chase, we make objects that help you put one thing down. This is an old idea from Daoism, called wei dao ri sun ( 為 道 日 損 ): the way is
revealed through subtraction, not accumulation. Two thousand years ago someone
already figured out the thing your wellness app is still trying to sell you. We just made
it into objects you can hold.
WHAT WE MAKE
Five senses. Five anchors. One purpose.
We believe a real ritual involves all five senses. So SOLUMA is built around five
objects, each holding one sense:
The Thunderstruck Wood Pendant — for the hands that have been holding too tight.
(scent of the wood)
The bagua fidget spinner— for the energy that has nowhere to go. (touch and
motion)
The bronze bell— for the moment between one day and the next. (a single sound)
The seven-star lamp — for the light that says the day is over. (sight)
The tea — for the warmth that says you're allowed to rest. (taste)
You don't need all five. You don't need to believe in anything mystical. You just need
one object, at the moment you decide today is enough.
WHERE IT COMES FROM
SOLUMA is operated by a small team based in Beijing. We work directly with the
regions where these objects have actually been made for centuries — not because it
sounds good in a brand story, but because that's where the people who know how to
make them well still are.
The thunderstruck wood comes from Maoshan — a sacred Daoist mountain, where
the jujube wood is naturally struck by lightning. Each piece is handcrafted by local
Daoist practitioners following traditional craft rituals.
The bagua fidget spinner is cast in Yiwu, where small precision metalwork has built
an export industry. We use solid brass and Stainless steel — no plating, no paint that
will wear off.
The tea, when we launch it, will come from Fujian — the region whose 武夷山
(Wuyi Mountain) gave the world its first orthodox tea trade in the 17th century.
Working from China means we can iterate quickly, choose materials carefully, and tell
the truth about where each object comes from. Your order arrives in 5–10 days, not
3–5 weeks.
WHAT WE DON'T DO
We are not a religious organization. SOLUMA does not require you to believe in
anything to use what we make.
We do not make medical claims. We are not selling treatment for anxiety, depression,
or any condition. If you're struggling, please talk to a real person trained to help. Our
objects are meant to support that process, not replace it.
We do not promise to change your fate. We don't believe anyone can sell you that.
What we make is for the part of you that already knows what you need — and just
needs a way to begin.
Less carried. More you.
— SOLUMA