Our Story

A letter from the founder

I was eight when my mother got sick.

It was cancer of the thymus, and the treatment went on for a long time.

I was there when she could no longer eat, and then could no longer drink. When her kidneys failed and her body swelled so badly she couldn't even sit in a wheelchair. I was there the day she looked at me and didn't know who I was.

That is how I learned, earlier than most people have to, that health is everything. When the body goes, everything goes with it. And I came to understand, better than most, how precious an ordinary day is.

She died the spring I was nineteen. By then, a great deal had changed for our family. The illness that was wearing her down had been pulling the whole household down with it, slowly, a little more every year.

I didn't want anyone to go through that. So I studied like my life depended on it. And what I found was disappointing.

The things sold as good for you were rarely what they claimed to be. Ingredient lists full of names I couldn't recognize. Small print. And behind all that confidence, amounts far too small to mean anything.

I promised myself that one day I would make things I could eat without a second thought, for the people I love and for myself. Time passed, and in 2019, in Korea, I started.

I made what I could eat myself, and what could keep the people I love healthy. A cup where every ingredient has a name you know, and nothing is in it that shouldn't be.

I chose every ingredient myself, and worked out every amount, down to the gram, with everything I had. It took six years to get here. Korea's technology and startup agencies recognized the work and funded it, and Yonsei University joined us for part of the research.

I never got to make her a cup. This is the one I would have made.

This cup was made for the people I love, and for myself. I hope it can be that for you, too.

Warmly,

Namhyeon Kim

Founder, ONDO° SEOUL