Cara Seargeant of Kyoto State

“It’s my dad and I. My dad is the master engineer behind everything because he has the history behind construction, engineering, and design. And I actually started the idea in school. When I was in LA, I took a class and our main project – we had to make something that was functional and artistic. I had gotten into coffee not too long before and spent most of my time in coffee shops and I wanted to do something with coffee for my project. I had always wanted to do a Kyoto cold brew dripper since my friends and I would talk about it in the past and I thought it would be a great opportunity to make a Kyoto and at the same time turn it in as an assignment.The original one was very small, made out of repurposed wine bottles and it was so much fun! That’s when I partnered with my dad, he had all the tools and I didn’t exactly know how to do it. It was really fun! We didn’t think of making anything of it until later. We showed my fiancé, Nate, and he was crazy about it! He showed all his friends, then his friends showed his friends, and so on. And it kind of blew up and everyone would ask ‘why aren’t you doing this?’ And everyone would ask when I’m going to do something with it. And I never really thought to be the entrepreneurial type since it never really crossed my mind.My main OK to do it was mainly everyone’s support from it all. My dad was very excited about it because he’s been in construction ever since he’s been out of High School. It’s given him a lot of great skills, but it’s always been labor intensive for him, and he’s always wanted to do something creative but never knew what. So the fact that he was super excited about being able to design something and it was cool and innovative, he basically gets to design whatever he wants because he has so much freedom with it. And that got me excited, so we partnered up and we created this business!

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I’ve talked a lot to Nate about it recently, and our hearts behind what we want to do and what we incorporate in what we do isn’t so much focused on the work, but rather what’s important with the people we meet. And that’s what lasts! There’s something more to what you do when you can put faces to people and you can have relationships with them because I feel like work can make you stressed and people can help calm you down! It’s about finding that balance.The workshop is in Riverside where my dad is located and after graduating school, that’s where I moved to, to begin our business. I do more of the back end stuff and in the midst of planning a wedding; it’s really about working on balance. From doing the website, social media, marketing, which is all great - I wish I were up there building more. I never really thought I would start a business with my dad but it’s awesome because it brought us closer!It’s interesting being an entrepreneur, or at least striving for that, because it’s hard, and yet there’s a freedom to it. The weight and stress of it all has paid off in a sense where the stress isn’t about ‘my life is so lame/I have this job I don’t want’ and instead more about ‘I need to do more/what can I do?’ and pushing you to your limits and seeing what you’re capable of. And that’s what helps me move along. Nate also helps a lot because he’s been an entrepreneur for a long time doing video/photography work and does music.He’s actually the reason why I pursued everything with the Fashion Institute because he helped me tap into my potential and get to where I am. When my sister wanted to go to FIDM, I went with her to her admissions interview and when they were talking about Visual Communications, it was everything I’ve ever wanted to do. It kind of just smacked me in the face and I knew I had to do it! It fell in my lap and from there I got to meet so many great people, got closer with my sister when we went to school together, and now I work with my dad. So it’s all really cool!"

We had the opportunity to meet with one part of the Kyoto State team, Cara Seargeant. She happens to be the mastermind behind these beautifully handcrafted coffee towers! If you’ve ever been to Lofty Coffee in Encinitas/Solana Beach, you can find some of the Kyoto State Coffee Towers there (as well as enjoy some amazing cold brew). We love how Cara took her love for coffee and combined it with her creative side to create something both aesthetically pleasing and functional.The brand itself was built on the foundation and support of family and close friends and is run by Thom and Cara (father/daughter duo). They use their talents and expertise to create something so beautiful for people to enjoy. We got to sit down with Cara who embodies such a lively spirit and got to open up about how her entrepreneurial journey pretty much found her without her looking for it!