The Mala Maker

Siri Ram Kaur was born in Savona, in northern Italy. Her father worked in a bank, so the family moved a lot. She finally stayed put in Rome, studied architecture, and taught yoga.

A friend from Bologna, Simran, knew how to make malas. They bought stones at a flea market near the women's camp in Espanola, sat down for two weeks, and sold every mala they had at the Yoga Festival, out of a fruit crate.

She paused when her first daughter was born in 1999. Then someone in Rome asked for one more, and she started again. By 2004 she had a company, Personal Malas. Architecture taught her color and harmony. Sat Nam Rasayan taught her to stay in a meditative space so the stones stay clean. Each mala is a unique piece. One of them carries the Japji.