Daily Inspiration: Meet Emily Bishop

Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Bishop.

Hi Emily, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
In 2020, when trying to find inspiration for a calming bedroom interior there was an image with the word ‘Japandi’, immediately evoking a peaceful feeling. Intuition guided us to start a Japandi journey.

We began to incorporate Japandi fundamentals (minimalism, natural materials, neutral colors, comfort) into our home and daily lives in an effort to calm ourselves (primarily Kevin) down. 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 (https://concussionfoundation.org/CTE-resources/what-is-CTE) from his 12+ years of playing contact sports.

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

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 – so much so that we founded Japandi Supply House later that same year.

We see Japandi Supply House as a vehicle for us to help others (and the planet) heal. It’s a HUGE idea. It’s an IMPACTFUL idea. It’s an idea that goes against commonly accepted overconsumption in the US. It’s also an idea that can help anyone suffering from all too common mental illness (depression, anxiety).

It’s a reminder for humans to take care of themselves, love themselves, embrace less and the calm that brings to your life, celebrate nature and make the most of your time. Be kind to yourself and to others and watch the ripple effect. By making changes in our consumption and by disrupting our input with positivity, love and hope, we can help calm down humans + the planet.

Japandi Supply House® is a lifestyle and home brand driven to help calm down humans and the planet through conscious living. Japandi Supply House seeks out the harder-to-find, thoughtfully designed + next-level cozy in all things Japandi to share with you. Shop Japandi furniture, home goods, lifestyle and get inspired by visiting our Japandi Design Gallery, all on ShopJapandi.com. 😌🌱💕

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Most challenging is surviving the symptoms of CTE, as days can be extremely unpredictable, and financial resources. Fortunately, our background of having an agency allowed us to do all of the work of launching the business and creating/building the store ourselves. But we’re completely self-funded, so that’s always a challenge.

Current challenges include:

Uncertain economy, consumer confidence and tariffs
Funding – we need financial resources to further market the idea
Adding partners, team, resources – currently just the two of us
Creating Japandi awareness
Finding solutions for global logistics as they fluctuate

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m Emily, a creative problem solver for good, resilient founder + idea disruptor.

My husband and I have worked together from home for almost 20 years as a small design and marketing agency, often sharing the same office space. Home has been many places; we moved 9 times in 11 years in one stretch – exploring Chicago neighborhoods and enjoying the fact we only needed our dogs, computer and wi-fi.

We settled on the Southside of Chicago, in the Beverly neighborhood, purchasing a home. We fell in love with the neighborhood and made friends, our dogs enjoyed the new yard space and we all enjoyed long walks in the beautiful neighborhood.

In late 2019 my husband’s CTE symptoms were increasing, causing a noticeable shift in the energy in our home, our health, and daily interactions. When the pandemic hit, it had a very negative impact on our design + marketing business as our services were the first to be cut by clients.

Faced with these situations – I saw these as all problems to solve. Calm down so we can have a day of any kind. Find a solution for our future income. Keep our life going with revenue from our remaining clients from our design agency.

During this time we found the idea – Japandi. What started as a bright spark from seeing a word ‘Japandi’ next to a photo of a peaceful room became our way forward. Working on Japandi allowed us to continue on while in the pandemic and after. We went all in using our combined almost 40 years design and marketing experience to build a brand around a fresh idea, a concept which humans have not yet tainted.

Japandi is based on two of the most calming philosophies; wabi-sabi (Japan) and hygge (Denmark). When consuming content of these philosophies, their history, and studying the core Japandi values, this process was calming. Working on Japandi was calming and this started to calm our daily lives.

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.

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.

Japandi Supply House gives humans a place to shop when they care about what they buy. Shop Japandi verified furniture, home goods, lighting, lifestyle + wellness; all sustainable, highest quality, made-to-last, and embracing buy better-buy less.

Calming visuals? Visit us to explore our global Japandi Design Gallery. Explore stellar Japandi inspired designers from around the world.

New to Japandi? Be sure to visit our blog, All Things Japandi for essentials.

Japandi Supply House is the global Japandi destination helping calm humans and the planet by embracing minimalism, nature, neutrals and comfort.

Visit ShopJapandi.com
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Currently online only, office in Boulder by appt only.

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
The journey can be incredibly hard, and the drive it takes to keep going can’t be explained in words. Move where the flow of the universe guides, pivoting when needed and finding creative solutions to move forward.

If you believe in the idea, and yourself, then don’t stop. Work, work, work, work, work at it. Be open for opportunities at anytime, anywhere. And be creative with your resources, don’t get discouraged – look for a creative solution. The world needs bright ideas and bright humans!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://shopjapandi.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/japandisupplyhouse/
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/japandisupplyhouse/