My Story
Beautiful Living Begins Within
For many years, I believed beautiful living began with in beautiful spaces.
As an interior stylist for magazines and advertising campaigns, and later as the co-founder of a commercial interior design studio in Tokyo, I spent nearly two decades designing fashion boutiques, retail spaces, restaurants, hotels and environments that inspired people.
I loved shaping light, materials, textures, and the quiet atmosphere that allows people to feel at home.
But over time, life gently taught me something deeper.
No matter how beautiful the space was, true peace didn’t always live there.
Under Design Office,Osaka
ELLE DECO for Panasonic
Phillip Lim 3.1, Tokyo
Artisan Table, Tokyo
Illness, loss, change, and many unexpected chapters of life invited me to look inward.
Through yoga, water, nature, tea, sound, meditation, and years of personal practice, I discovered that the most meaningful space we will ever design is the one within ourselves...
When our inner world becomes spacious…our homes feel different.
Our relationships change.
Our work becomes more meaningful.
Our lives begin to reflect who we truly are.
That realization slowly became the foundation of Studio Early Birds.
Not simply as a yoga studio.
Not simply as a design studio.
But as a creative wellness studio exploring how beautiful living begins from within.
Early Birds at Garden House
Early Birds, Kamakura
Published my first book、I Found It
The name Early Birds has been with me for many years.
It was first the name of a small lifestyle boutique I founded in Kamakura, where I curated Japanese handcrafted objects, small art, and everyday pieces that brought beauty into ordinary life.
When I later moved to California and began a new chapter, the name naturally came with me.
Because mornings have always represented possibility.
The quiet before the world awakens.
A chance to begin again.
Beautiful living isn’t something we find one day.
It is something we practice every morning.
Today I continue exploring the same question...
How can we create a life that feels deeply alive?
Sometimes through movement. I found Yoga.
Sometimes through silence.
Sometimes through nature.
Sometimes simply over a cup of tea.
Whether we meet on the yoga mat, through a retreat, a conversation, or a creative project,
my hope is always the same :
to help create a little more space…
for clarity,
for joy,
for connection,
and for the life that is already waiting within you.
I'd like to meet you.
On the mat.
In nature.
Over tea.
Or simply in conversation.
Beautiful Living Begins Within.
I’m grateful our paths have crossed.
Love,
Chinatsu
Founder, Studio Early Birds
