Inside the Maisonje × muBeans Collaboration

The Workday Has Left the Building

If you live in a big city, you already know: the office is wherever you happen to be standing. It's the express train downtown with your laptop bag wedged between your feet. It's the coffee shop in Nolita where you camp out between meetings. It's the gate at JFK, twenty minutes before boarding, answering one last email.

City life made us experts at working from anywhere. But the tools we carry — and the coffee we drink — haven't always kept up. Most bags still assume you commute to one desk and stay there. Most coffee assumes your body can handle a fourth cup at 4 p.m. (Spoiler: it can't.)

That gap is exactly where this collaboration was born. And fittingly, it launched in the city that understands the problem best.

Three Founders, One Vision

Jay Heo, founder of Maisonje, and Yumi Choi and Jinhee Kim, co-CEOs of muBeans, work in completely different industries — one crafts bags, the others reinvent coffee. But all three built their brands out of the same frustration with the status quo, and the same refusal to accept "good enough" for people who live in motion.

So when it came time to debut their partnership, there was only one place to do it: New York.

At Flying Solo in SoHo, Yumi Choi and Jay Heo unveiled the Maisonje My Petite backpack and My Petite laptop sleeve collection to a room full of guests, press, and creatives. Two Seoul-based brands, one downtown launch — and a shared belief that thoughtful design and sustainable daily rituals belong at the center of city life, not the margins.

Seoul and New York have more in common than you'd think: both cities move fast, demand a lot, and reward the people who come prepared.

Designed for the Global Commuter

The My Petite collection isn't just another pretty bag (though it holds its own on Prince Street). Every detail was designed around real urban movement:

Multiple compartments keep your day organized when you're going from morning workout to client meeting to dinner without a stop at home. A dedicated gadget compartment means your laptop, cables, and chargers each have a place — no more digging at the bottom of your bag while the barista waits. A hidden quick-access security pocket keeps your passport and electronics protected, whether you're navigating a packed rush-hour platform or an international terminal. And tailored compartments hold your travel drinkware upright and secure, so your coffee ritual survives the subway stairs.

It's the kind of design that disappears into your routine. You stop thinking about your bag, and start thinking about where it's taking you.

Coffee for People Who Are Already Wired

Let's face it — this city runs on enough adrenaline as it is.

That's where muBeans comes in. Led by Yumi Choi and Jinhee Kim, muBeans is a wellness-driven beverage brand reinventing what coffee can be. Using proprietary botanical fibre blends, muBeans delivers the rich taste and grounding ritual of coffee — without the caffeine jitters, without acid distress, and without relying on vulnerable coffee crop ecosystems.

It's the cup for your 3 p.m. reset that won't wreck your sleep. The slow Sunday pour that's actually slow. The ritual, minus the crash — which, in a city that never stops, might be the ultimate luxury.

Ready to Move?

Your workday is already everywhere — uptown, downtown, and thirty thousand feet in between. Your gear should keep up.

Explore the full My Petite collection at Maisonje, and experience coffee without compromise at muBeans.