Kaori was born and raised in Shiga, Japan and has been sewing for about seven years while also performing professionally with the Sacramento Ballet. During her time as a professional ballerina, her husband bought a sewing machine for her birthday which guided her along this path to “by Kk” and has also shown her new joy and passion besides what she experiences from dancing. Coincidentally, Kaori’s family owns a textile company in Japan as well, so when she began sewing fabrics it helped her feel connected to her heritage with lots of her wonderful memories from home. Over the past seven years, being inspired by the support from her fellow dancers to keep sewing, she has made many leotards and ballet clothing for them. This inspiration and support has given her opportunities to design and make costumes for choreographers like Ron Cunningham, Rex Wheeler, Julia Feldman, and Amy Seiwert for ballet companies such as Sacramento Ballet, Capital Dance Project, Smuin Contemporary Ballet, Richmond Ballet, and Texture Contemporary Ballet.
In September 2020, Kaori launched her own leotard and ballet clothing brand, “by Kk.” She thinks that all of her experiences she has gained over these past seven years has built her confidence to take this next step and that now is the time! She hopes “by Kk” will provide more unique and special options for ballerina’s closets and will creates extra excitement for them to carry to class, rehearsals, or whatever is waiting. She is really excited for this new journey!