Victoria Tsai’s love affair with Kyoto began in 2009 with a life-changing visit to Japan. It marked her first encounter with a geisha who left an indelible mark on her and became a major source of inspiration and muse for the beauty brand she’d launch shortly after called Tatcha. First came the blotting papers, followed by products like the popular Rice Enzyme Exfoliator and the Silk Canvas Primer. Unsurprisingly, the natural next step for Tsai was to share everything she’s learned in a book called, Pure Skin: Discover the Japanese Ritual of Glowing. 12 years later, the ancient capital is still the driving force behind Tatcha’s skincare philosophy. Tsai reflects on the endless magic of Kyoto, Japan.
A fateful car ride
“Kyoto is known as the City of 2,000 Temples—they are so grand and make the whole city feel spiritual. It’s also known for the waterways that crisscross the city, providing pure water. I remember feeling so peaceful there, but most of all I fell in love with the culture. On my first trip there, my hotel assigned a driver for the day, named Toide-san. Halfway through the day, I had to ask him to take me back to my hotel; I was pregnant and throwing up behind every bush. When I woke up from a nap, there was a package waiting for me with three CDs filled with Toide-san’s photos of the city. A little note said, ‘Since you couldn’t see Kyoto, I brought Kyoto to you.’ He had spent the afternoon driving an hour and a half home, burning thousands of his photos onto CDs and driving back to the hotel to share his love of Kyoto with me, and to make me feel cared for. That was the moment I fell in love with Japan.”
Lessons from a geisha
“The geisha have many beautiful lessons, both practical and spiritual. I particularly love their view on aging. In the west, it can feel that your beauty fades as you age. Geisha believe that a woman’s beauty is something to be gained over time, not lost. A young maiko, a geisha-in-training, wears ornately decorated kimono and hairpieces, but her style becomes more simple and elegant over time. She doesn’t need the accessories anymore because her beauty has been internalized.”
The rituals of skincare
“When it comes to skincare, they taught me the importance of gently exfoliating the skin each and every day. Polishing the skin like a jewel is at the heart of their ritual, which was the inspiration behind The Rice Polish. They also believe in the importance of protecting skin from makeup; they use a light wax to keep makeup out of the skin, which also makes it last longer. We created The Silk Canvas as a modern version of this, with benefits for both skin and makeup.”
Follow your gut
“‘Body meditation’ is my translation of the work that he does. He is a Zen monk at Kenninji Temple, one of my favorite temples in Kyoto. He taught me that in ancient times, people believed that their ‘being’ was in their stomach, which is where the phrase ‘follow your gut’ comes from. Later, they believed it was the heart; ‘follow your heart.’ Nowadays people are focused on the mind, which is why we are rediscovering meditation. He says that really, all of these things are interconnected and you must focus on the whole body in order to feel balanced and whole. That really resonated with me: we have always believed that skincare is self-care because your skin is intimately connected to your health and body.”
Learning from artisans
“The last time I went was with the design team at Tatcha. I wanted to expose them to aspects of Japanese art and design that inspire us. We spent time with gold-leaf artisans, lacquer artisans, modern-day designers who do architectural space and packaging. Because Tatcha is our love song to Japan, but based in San Francisco, we want the people on the team to experience it, internalize it and express it in a new way. Normally when I go, I’m focused on research (meeting with geisha, looking at ingredients, testing formulas with The Tatcha Institute), but this was a new experience bringing the designers with us. We were also putting the final touches on The Silk Canvas, inspired by the layer of wax that geisha use to protect their skin from makeup. The filling process requires a lot of artisanal expertise because the formula is driven by multiple silk extracts and very delicate. It’s slow-filled, almost the way you fill soft-serve ice cream, so that the texture and efficacy are not impacted. This is why we love working with the Tatcha Institute—creating each formula from scratch in Japan means doing things that no one else is doing, so product development often requires a delicate hand and some technical gymnastics.”
