About Us
In a world where time for hobbies and fun is sometimes hard to carve out, we look for every opportunity to share SMILES & TILES.
WHAT IS MY FAIR MAHJONG ABOUT?
- We have been blessed with the most amazing friends (old and new), mentors and advisors who have supported us by offering input as we built our business- they have helped with our mission to share smiles & tiles and inclusively grow the MJ community.
- We want to play a small part in bringing more people to this wonderful game so that there are more benefits and joy derived from the community created through Mahjong.
- Leisure time is precious. Our products, our brand and our philosophy center around celebrating the Mahjong experience and making meaningful connections in an effort to spread JOY!
HOW DID MFM START?
- We dove into this business HEART first. Lifelong creators working in the corporate world, hobbies keep us sane. As love of MJ grew, it started in the accessory side of things with coasters/tumblers/wine glasses/notebooks/bags, mostly to gift to friends in our own regular games and casual trainings.
- Tile design started after a simple question was asked over our weekly game... "why not design tiles?" The question came at a personal time when honoring a loved one with a project kick-started the rapid design of the first version of The Southwest Series. It wasn't intended to be Southwest themed... the design just came out and almost formed itself in honor of a beloved grandmother (I think this happens when you lead with the heart!). And thus, our destination lineup idea and our first "creative" Series was born. Together with our BrainTrust friends, our family has gotten to work to bring you our form of joy.
- As we landed on the destination lineup approach for our tile sets, we decided to use our desire to honor this game to take that to another layer- honoring special places and regions by using the Jokers as opportunities to pay homage and respect to those places and cultures. Every ounce of this process is filled with love of family, deep meaning and cultural celebration in several forms.
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE CULTURAL HISTORY OF THE GAME? SOME OF YOUR TILES DIFFER FROM TRADITIONAL SYMBOLISM.
- We have a deep appreciation for the origins of the game of Mahjong, including the many ways it is played (and spelled) around the world. We value honoring cultures/traditions and celebrating differences while always seeking to learn and understand. It is partially for this reason that we fell in love with the game of Mahjong- a game so culturally powerful and wonderful, it has stood the test of time and spread and evolved to bring its benefits to different cultures worldwide. China gave the world an amazing gift with this centuries-old game, continuing to bring generations, friends and families together in community and fun. It is so much more than a game... it is about connection, family, lifelong learning and keeping culture alive. And while we do push some creative boundaries with our designs, we will always strive to be a connector to the origins of this game and hope you will all join us with this attitude of honor.
- When we teach, we always like to start by showing and learning the traditional Chinese characters first, as we believe these are the foundation from which you can then play on all sorts of colorful and creative sets (for example, we place our traditional mini travel tiles sitting on top of the corresponding larger creative tiles to start with any new players).
- The game came to us personally through the American Mah Jongg rules built by the incredible women of the National Mah Jongg League. They developed the American Mah Jongg form of play and were instrumental in spreading this game to America starting in the early and mid 1900s. Our initial sets are structured for American Mah Jongg rules of play leveraging the NMJL card, and our more recent sets are also suitable for Chinese, Honk Kong, Riichi and Singaporean styles of play!
WHO HELPED YOU DESIGN?
- We design ourselves in-house with input and brainstorming help from friends, neighbors, family and trusted acquaintances and advisors to make sure we hit the right mark.
- Through our design process, we consult with friends and business associates in and from China as well as the locations we honor with our set designs to see how our designs land. With their trusted feedback, we tweak to make sure we hit the right mark. We have many designs ranging from traditional, simple to very creative. Our artistic leaps come from a place of honor and love of this game and wanting to invest our own skills and passions to it.
WHAT IF WE SEE AN OPPORTUNITY OR HAVE IDEAS FOR YOUR BUSINESS?
- We see our customers and affiliates as partners and welcome you to give us ideas and feedback as we grow to make sure we get this right- we may not always be in a position to act on it, but we deeply value your input.
MFM aims to deliver SMILES & TILES!
~Delivering Smiles, Obsessed with Tiles~