I was shaped long before the titles — by warmth, by culture, by the quiet rituals of hospitality that live in everyday life. In my world, a meal is a language, and care is something you feel before you see. That is the root I carry.

I’ve cooked in serious kitchens — Vij, Hawksworth, Aburi, and I’ve built restaurants from nothing but an idea and a sense of what a space could hold. I’ve worked through tasting menus, supply chains, labour systems, margins, and the unseen mechanics that keep a room breathing. These are the structures beneath my hands.

But the part of me that creates is subtle, listening for unspoken words, looking for the unseen and speaking with intention. I work with memory, restraint, intuition — the things you can’t quantify but always notice. My craft is as much about feeling as it is about food and everything surrounding it.

Atelier Nara is simply the form that emerged from this — not a brand, but a practice. A quiet studio where discipline and emotion meet halfway. A place where nothing is forced, nothing is loud, and everything has intention.

I aspire to move through the middle way.
To build without excess.
To lead without noise.
To create things that feel calm, honest, and alive — the way a moment does when it’s held with care.

This is the part of me that my work can only hint at, and the part I’m learning to share without explaining.