What’s In A Name?

One of the questions we always get when people first find out about us is “How did you choose the name Solajai?” In short, thoughtfully. We wanted all the boring, practical things like a .com domain that was still available, intuitive to pronounce, not easily confused with other businesses, etc. But, we also wanted it to have a meaning that would resonate - both with our team and with the community we hoped to build.

So what does “Solajai” mean? It’s Proto-Indo-European for “Give Joy”, which is what we aim to do by connecting our community members to each other, to the activities that nourish them, and to a sustainability movement that can offer hope to the world.

The choice of Proto-Indo-European also has some nice symbolism, as our founding team is half American and half Indian. All of our languages (English, Tamil, Telegu, Hindi, and Kannada) derive from the PIE mother tongue.

Another naming choice we made was that to call our first product, an amazing sustainable yoga mat, “Cambium”. One of the key design decisions in our mat was to use cork fabric as the material to provide grip - both to the hands and to the floor. It’s also an important reason why our mat is nearly odorless - cork has antimicrobial properties, is easy to wash, looks great, and feels amazing. So…we kind of LOVE cork. It was only fitting, then to name our mat after the cork that is so integral to its design.

“Cambium” is the name of the cork bark layer that is used to manufacture cork products, including our mats. The rest of the cork oak tree is left alone when the bark is harvested, and the harvesting actually helps the tree live longer.