Welcome to CloudZen. Here’s the story of how it began.

In 2022, the pandemic kept the world at bay. Alex sat in a small studio where the sunlight fell in squares on the floor. He poured plaster into silicone molds. He waited. When the forms hardened, they came out in strange colors, rough textures, shapes that were unexpected. It was a way to pass the long days. It was also instinct.

Alex led industrial design teams at world-leading smart hardware and drone companies. But here, he created with no goal—just to keep balance against an uncertain future.

His friend Shan, a professional director of commercials and documentaries, often joined him. Shan had an eye for beauty. The noise of business and society had faded. Shan lit incense and watched the drifting mist. He remembered the stage fog before a great speech, the way light cut through mist and turned into volumetric beams. 

Time stopped. The body lifted. “That’s the kind of feeling that drops you straight into deep thought,” Alex and Shan said.

Meanwhile, Linda was carrying her own struggle—five long months of post-COVID symptoms: heart palpitations, restless nights, insomnia. Linda and Shan had become friends through work, sharing an appreciation for tea, incense, and the “useless” objects that brought quiet joy.

As Zhuangzi said: “The useless holds the greatest use.”

When Linda turned to meditation for healing, they realized that the beam of volumetric light—the one that seemed to suspend time and draw their thoughts inward—was in fact a “focus anchor” for meditation.

If thoughts were objects, meditation is not staring at them, but letting them drift at the edge of vision. In that space, the body quiets, and the weight of worries, fears, and emotions is set down.

So Alex, Shan, and Linda decided to shape that experience into something real. They gave it a name: CloudZen.