We ran a successful design and marketing agency in Chicago for nearly 20 years, but the pandemic had a very negative impact on the business as our services were the first to be cut by clients. Along with being locked down in our home for months and our business in decline, Kevin was learning to live with presumed CTE from his 12+ years of playing contact sports. These symptoms caused a noticeable shift in the energy in our home, our health, and daily interactions.

We quickly had to find ways to calm down, while also finding a new source of income, in order to survive.

Over time we began to identify the core values of both wabi-sabi and hygge - which when mixed together create the magic of Japandi. In our view these are minimalism, nature, neutrals + comfort. Japandi gave us the building blocks to calm our life down, reduce stress and midigate mental health symptoms.

CTE is rough on the individual and friends/family, but it provided us an opportunity to make positive life changes to ease CTE’s effects on your daily existence. For us, Japandi was the pathway to these positive changes - we’ve done it, and believe in its transformative influence as part of a larger routine.

In late 2024 we sold our home in Chicago, embracing the minimalist lifestyle we’d been shaping - we let go of everything. We moved to Colorado in December 2024 with Simone (our dog), computers and Jeep. Currently we are exploring Colorado and working non-stop on Japandi.

Everyday give yourself a little KEXP 💕