"GAO" - represents the standard we hold ourselves to , in our character, our work and the way we care for people. "MI" - means rice — a symbol of nourishment, livelihood and having enough.

In 2015, we arrived in Cairns knowing no one, with no client list and no local reputation. We were starting completely from scratch.

Our first GAO-MI in Australia was a small home studio in Kewarra Beach. We brought with us years of experience and the belief that if we did good work, treated people well and earned their trust, we could build something here.

It started one client at a time. People came back. They told their friends and families about us, and slowly a clientele grew around our little home studio. Many of the people who supported us in those early years are still part of GAO-MI today.

By 2022, we had outgrown our home studio. We took the biggest step in our Australian journey and opened GAO-MI in Cairns North — creating the space we had imagined, while holding onto the values that got us there.

We’re proud of how far GAO-MI has come, but we haven’t forgotten where it started — in a little room at home, with people who gave us a chance before anyone knew our name.