We reached somewhere. And this is only the beginning.

I want to write this. Not because it is a marketing post or a brand update. But because something happened, and it deserves to be written down; for everyone who has been here, and for everyone who is just finding us now.

Shichisōru was seen on national television. Thousands of people read that name. Thousands of people will remember Mimi. And that still doesn't feel real to me.

It started with fan art. And a lot of love.

In 2019, I was drawing fan art of BTS, selling prints to people in India, the USA, Japan, Europe, navigating Chinese manufacturers and international couriers on my own, with no business background, no family business, no blueprint. Just passion, and a deep stubbornness to keep going.

I completed my engineering. I gave corporate a shot, eight months, and decided it wasn't mine. Not because I couldn't do it, but because I knew something else was waiting. So I came back to drawing. To commissions, custom orders, and fan art that people genuinely loved.

"Fan art was comfortable. People already knew the idols. But I wanted to build something of my own, a world that didn't exist yet."

That decision to stop drawing borrowed worlds and start building my own was the hardest thing I've done. There's safety in the familiar. Fan art sells because the love already exists. But I wanted to be the first in my bloodline to build a business from my own imagination. So in 2024, I made the leap.

Mimi, and the world she came from.

Shichisōru, seven souls, is a magical world where no humans exist. Only animals who carry human emotions: love, longing, confusion, joy, the quiet search for where you belong. It is a world where no one is judged for their passion or lack of it, and you can simply just exist.

Mimi is a black cat. She is the protagonist of this universe. She is also, in many ways, me. Wandering, searching, stumbling through a portal and finding herself in a world she didn't expect. On her journey she finds Toffee, and then Jeebie, and slowly, without realizing it, she finds something even more important: that the journey itself is the point.

Thousands of people saw this name for the first time. Thousands of people will carry Mimi with them now, even if they don't know it yet. That is our first big milestone. And we are not treating it as a finish line. We are treating it as a door. The new journey starts here.

Thank you.

To everyone who bought a print in the early days. To everyone who placed a commission and trusted me with something personal. To everyone who picked up a Mimi sticker or a plushie and felt something. Thank you. You are part of why this world exists.

And to everyone who is meeting Mimi for the first time right now, welcome to Shichisōru. We are so glad you found us.

We are not stopping here. We are starting here.

— Maitreyee, founder of Shichisōru 💜