About Us - Villain Showdown Episodes

Our Story

We started in 2014 as a weekend workshop in the Gion district. Yuki had been working as an interior design apprentice for years and kept getting the same question from foreign visitors: "How do Japanese kitchens stay so organized?" So she started teaching a class.

The class filled up. Then it filled up again. People kept emailing months later saying they'd reorganized their kitchens at home. By 2016, Kenji had joined and we were shipping ceramic storage sets internationally. Emma came on board in 2017 to handle the writing and curriculum side of things.

We're still a small team and we like it that way. We've worked with about 2,500 clients in 30 countries so far, mostly through word of mouth. We don't really do marketing — this website and our newsletter are about it.

What We Care About

Real materials

We use cedar, ceramic, stone, and bamboo — materials that age well and don't end up in a landfill after two years. Most of our suppliers are small Japanese workshops we've worked with since the beginning.

Systems that last

If an organization system falls apart after a month, it wasn't a good system. Everything we teach is designed around daily habits, not one-time cleanups. That's why we follow up with clients 3 and 6 months after their consultation.

Less, not more

We're not going to sell you 50 matching containers. Most kitchens need fewer things, not more things. Our job is to help you figure out what actually works for how you cook.

Our Team

Yuki Tanaka

Founder

Yuki spent 15 years apprenticing under traditional interior designers in Japan before starting the company in 2014. She still personally oversees every client consultation and leads our in-person workshops.

Kenji Matsumoto

Lead Organizer & Ceramics

Kenji comes from a family of ceramic artists in Shigaraki. He joined in 2016 after we kept recommending his storage vessels to clients. Now he handles product sourcing and runs the ceramic storage program.

Emma Richardson

Content & Programs

Emma writes most of what you read on this site and in our guides. She moved to Japan in 2017 after a career in food journalism in London. She handles our blog, newsletter, and workshop curriculum.

Our Mission

We want to keep traditional Japanese kitchen design alive by making it practical for modern homes. That's really it. Yuki learned these methods from people who've been doing it for generations, and we think they work better than anything you'll find at IKEA. We're not trying to build a lifestyle brand — we just want to help people set up kitchens they actually enjoy using.