Megumi Aoki
Co-founder and Creative Director working across real estate, space, and brand. Between Los Angeles and Tokyo.
Trilingual — English, Japanese, Korean.
I'm Megumi Aoki, Co-founder and Creative Director of IGNITUS Properties, Inc., a real estate and design company based in Los Angeles.
I work across real estate, space, and brand, between Los Angeles and Tokyo.
Before IGNITUS, I founded THRIVAL Inc. in Tokyo (2018), where I built two ventures from the ground up: KAWA KITCHEN, a wellness café for which I commissioned architect Kengo Kuma, and S., a plastic-free lifestyle brand featured in over 20 publications across Japan.
I've always been drawn to the same question—how do people live, and how does design shape what they choose and feel.
Introduction
What I Do
Real Estate & Design
As Co-founder and Creative Director of IGNITUS Properties, I lead creative direction across our work in residential and commercial real estate, property management, and design—with luxury as the through-line. My focus is the experience of a space: how it looks, feels, and shapes the life lived inside it.
Selected Work
KAWA KITCHEN
Tokyo · 2022–2024
A wellness destination café, for which I commissioned Pritzker Prize–winning architect Kengo Kuma to realize the space. Featured on 5 national television programs and 1 radio show in Japan.
S. — D2C Lifestyle Brand
Tokyo · 2019–2025
Founded and built a plastic-free lifestyle brand end to end—brand concept, product and packaging design, and all creative direction. 40+ pop-up activations across Japan and features in 20+ publications.
Speaking
Alongside my work, I speak at conferences and universities, and serve as a councilor for two foundations in Japan supporting education and human wellbeing. I care about how people live—and about helping others reach the environments and choices that let them thrive.
Selected engagements
2024 — Moderator, NEXUS JAPAN SUMMIT
2023 — Panelist, GLOBAL FESTA 2023 Organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan "Talking with Youth: ODA and Social Issues"
2022 — Speaker, The University of Tokyo Global Leader Development Program
2022 — Speaker, "The Future We Want to Leave"
2021 — Speaker, "Millennial Leaders and SDGs"
Content
I share life between two cities through House of Megumi, a podcast, and a Japanese journal on note—writing and conversations about how we live, the environments we choose, and the choices that shape us.