ephemera 1

yuria kailich

Yuria Kailich, co-founder of creative practice Of Enso

First: this is ephemera. I’ve been thinking for a long time about the best way to profile saloon’s members in a way that doesn’t feel pandering or dull, and as such I’ve been thinking: What is the best way to explore a person in time you didn’t spend with them? I found my answer in trash, basically, or in editorial speak, the detritus of time spent in the real world: receipts, tickets, notes, stickers—the garbage we keep in our coat pockets, the bottom of our bags, the junk drawer of our desks. It’s a nice way to understand a person—seeing what they hold onto consciously or unconsciously, what they rediscovered and what it made them remember. Yuria was an obvious first choice because she is my crush.

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I met Yuria in the back room of Colbo during a Rite of Way scent launch. Our friend Tara introduced us, and soon after I invited Yuria to an event saloon hosted with With Nothing Underneath, where she made friends with everyone in the room. Yuria has a deep voice, perfect skin, an accomplished sense of self, a total understanding of creativity, and she dresses like Kim Possible. She co-founded Of Enso with Joel Harding, and since I’ve known about it, I’ve been telling everyone: These people will be famous. In less than two years, they’ve landed mentions in Dezeen, Arch Digest (collusion), Wallpaper, Sight Unseen, and many, many more. She was born and raised in New York.

Yuria is on Substack (Yuria Kailich), and Instagram @yuriakailich.

yuria's ephemera from japan

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From Yuria, post-Japan, January 2026:

Highlighting a few that deserve a bit of explanation below, but the other ones include: a note my boyfriend wrote on the back of his dry-cleaning receipt, crumpled at the bottom of my purse; the Shinkansen ticket from Nagoya to Tokyo that was delayed over an hour due to a significant earthquake; Noen Oil my friend and founder Natalie gave me at Montague Diner in December; my favorite pony cuff when the hair is bad but needs a fun touch; a ticket from the Nezu Museum in Tokyo; a coaster from a random bar we stumbled into while wandering small alleyways; my and my luggage tag from Haneda Airport.

I.

Omamori from Ise Shrine to “protect me from bad spirits.” A shrine near and dear to my family, and an important pilgrimage for many Japanese, Ise is one of the most meditative places on earth. You walk through an almost enchanted forest, breathing in crisp air, surrounded by trees older than you can comprehend (trunks so wide it takes three people to wrap their arms around). They are sold at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples all over Japan and are typically carried on your person, attached to bags, phones, cars, or kept at home. (Trust I bought them for many people back home).

II.

Without a handkerchief (a standard accessory in Japan), I hoarded the napkins handed to me at cafes and restaurants, including from Dean & Deluca—a brand that holds deep nostalgia for most New Yorkers who remember the era of the gourmet market.

III.

Purikura photos — a rite of passage in Japan, the ultimate Photo Booth experience at any Game Center/arcade. They yassify you into oblivion with stylized photos, digital decor, and makeup, not to mention their obsession with Western culture and magnifying your eye size.

IV.

Tax Free receipt for my new Global Kitchen Knife — been dying to get a Japanese made knife for daily kitchen use. They just do it 10x better over there, and the craftsmanship is impeccable (wrote about it on my substack btw if that interests anyone). Excited to slice my vegetables like a sushi chef. I also brought back a more elite carbon knife as well for finer slicing.