Christina Zipperlen - Ananda Soul Jewelry

Christina Zipperlen on Building Ananda Soul: Art, Intuition, and the Courage to Grow

What was the turning point in your life when you decided to create Ananda Soul?

It was a moment of in-between. I had just left Hawai‘i, not entirely by choice, and found myself traveling, without a clear sense of ground beneath me. Around that time, I relapsed into anorexia and was being called very strongly toward healing.

At the same time, I felt a deep connection to my mother, who had passed a few years earlier. She was an artist, and I could feel that part of her moving through me. There was this quiet but undeniable pull to create, to listen more closely to my truth, and to build something meaningful, something with integrity.

The way Ananda Soul unfolded wasn’t strategic in the beginning. The messages, the symbolism, the ethical aspects, the storytelling, it was all there from the start, but it revealed itself step by step rather than being planned.

What had to “die” within you before your current creative vision could emerge?

I don’t think there was just one version that had to die. Being an artist, for me, is a constant process of becoming. Versions of myself are always closing, softening, transforming.

But if I had to name something, it would be the part of me that wanted to be saved. The younger part that hoped someone else would step in and hold the difficult conversations, make the hard decisions, or carry the weight of responsibility.

Running a business asked something different of me. It asked me to step into leadership. Not in a harsh or forceful way, but in a grounded, steady, almost maternal way. Setting boundaries. Communicating clearly, even when it’s uncomfortable. Repairing when something goes wrong. Learning to hold both care and structure at the same time.

I started this in my mid-twenties with no business experience. I was a creative being with many ideas and very little structure, even though I was born in Germany. That structure is something I had to learn over time.

And honestly, I often say that Ananda Soul is my first child. It raised me as much as I built it. The women I’ve worked with for many years, my team here in Bali, they’ve raised me too. It’s been a deeply relational journey. I also believe businesses have souls. If you say yes to them, they come through you. And they mirror you. The more willing I am to see that, the more ease there is in the process.

Was there a moment when you almost gave up, and what kept you going?

There were moments of burnout, definitely. And there were also external challenges that really tested us.

When the volcano in Bali erupted, tourism dropped dramatically. And during the pandemic, the island was closed for a long time, and our stores had to shut. Those were very real moments of uncertainty.

What kept me going was the team. There is a genuine sense of family in what we’ve built. We care for each other, and we stayed together through those times, finding solutions collectively. My personal practices also held me. Meditation, movement, community. And a deep sense that I have a kind of soul contract with this work. That it’s not finished yet.

Something I’ve learned through all of it is that when everything feels fast and overwhelming, the most important thing is to slow down. To zoom out. That’s where clarity comes back.

How do you translate intuition and spirituality into tangible design?

That’s simply how I create.

From a young age, I felt I would either become a therapist or an artist. And while I chose the path of art externally, I’ve studied many modalities over the years. I’m very sensitive to what’s moving in people, in nervous systems, collectively.

So often, what I create is a response to what I feel we all need. It might come through as a symbol, a message, a stone, a prayer.

I don’t sit down and think, “What will sell?” It’s more like receiving a feeling or a knowing, and then translating that into form. Sometimes it comes as a flash. And then we begin shaping it from there, together with our artisans here in Bali.

What does success truly mean to you today?

Health. My health, my family’s health.

A regulated, grounded nervous system that can move through challenges and still appreciate the day-to-day. That feels like success.

Family and community are a huge part of it. Feeling connected, feeling loved, feeling safe in my body. And then, of course, creativity. That something is flowing through me, that I’m creating something meaningful and contributing in a real way.

Financial stability comes as a result of that. It’s not the starting point. It’s the feedback that what we’re creating is resonating.

What has been the boldest decision on your entrepreneurial journey so far?

There have been a few.

During the pandemic, we invested the last money we had into pivoting online and into paid advertising. That was a big risk, but it worked and carried us through.

More recently, the bold decision has been the opposite. Stepping away from that constant push, from the noise, and returning to a more organic, grassroots way of growing.

For me, boldness is not about always expanding. It’s about staying attuned to what is needed now, even if it goes against what you’re “supposed” to do.

How do you know when a design truly carries “soul”?

It’s a process. A back and forth.

Some designs don’t make it into the world because it’s just not there yet. And we keep refining until it is. My team knows this by now. When it’s not there, it’s not there. And when it is, we all feel it. There’s a moment where we look at it and just know.

Once a piece is ready, we complete it through a traditional Balinese blessing ceremony. Each piece is blessed with prayers and intention. It’s a way of inviting breath and presence into it.

What would you tell your younger self when you were just starting out?

Breathe.

Get off your computer when you’re tired. There will always be more to do.

Don’t try to solve everything in one day. Go play. Be with your loved ones.

Trust that it will unfold. It’s your role to show up, but not to control the outcome.

Pray. Dance. Don’t take it all so seriously.

What does “soul” mean in your work beyond marketing language?

To understand that, you have to start with Ananda.

Ananda is a Sanskrit word that means contentment. Not the kind that comes from something external, but a deep contentment that exists within us.

Soul, to me, is the place where that contentment lives.

So my work is not about giving something to people that they don’t already have. It’s about reminding them. Creating small anchors, talismans, that bring them back to themselves.

Back to that place of rest. Back to the magic of simply being here.

Because this moment, this body, this lifetime, it’s fleeting. And there is something very profound about remembering that while we’re in it.

How do you want people to feel when they wear your creations?

I want them to feel safe.

Safety is such an essential quality, and it’s something many of us are missing in a world that constantly pulls at our attention and our nervous systems.

When we don’t feel safe, we’re not fully here. We can’t create. We can’t truly connect.

So I want people to feel held. To soften. To come back into their center.

And from there, to smile. To recognize the beauty of their own being. To really see themselves.

ANANDA SOUL JEWELRY