Our story
It started with a summer table
Lemonade in the sun, the click of tiles, friends laughing over the last hand. Villa Mahjong was born from afternoons like these, and from the wish to carry them home.
Summers on the terrace
Our story begins on a terrace by the sea, at a family summer house where the days had their own rhythm: a swim in the morning, a long lunch under the lemon trees, and, once the heat softened, the Mahjong set came out.
It was an old set, its tiles worn smooth by years of play, and the game itself was only half the point. The other half was everything around it: the stories, the teasing, the second glass of lemonade, the neighbors who wandered over to watch and stayed for dinner.
Those afternoons taught us what Mahjong really is. It is a reason to sit down together, and to stay.
Finding the American game
From one table to many
Years later, a friend invited us to fill the fourth seat at her weekly game of American Mahjong. There was a new card to learn, the ritual of the Charleston, and jokers that changed everything. Within a month we had a standing date, and within a year a table of friends of our own.
We fell for the game all over again. What we couldn’t find was a set that felt like those summers. Most were either fussy and old-fashioned or purely practical, made to be put away rather than shown off. We wanted something you would happily leave out: cheerful, beautifully made, and easy to read across the table.
A villa isn’t only a house. It’s a feeling: the doors open, the table set, friends on their way.
So we set out to design it ourselves, and we named it after that feeling. Villa Mahjong brings the light, color, and ease of a summer villa to the game we love, wherever you happen to play: a porch in the Carolinas, a condo in Florida, a city apartment with one sunny window.
How we design
Designed for sunny tables
Every piece begins with the table it will live on. We picture the striped linen beneath it, the bowl of lemons beside it, and the light falling across it, then design tiles, racks, mats, and accessories that feel at home there.
We care most about the details you notice game after game: faces that are easy to read, colors that make you smile, and pieces that look as lovely on a shelf as they do mid-hand.
Now available
Our first collection
Twenty-six sets, most of them named for a corner of the Mediterranean summer we love. Here are four of them.
The Riviera Set
For sea views and striped cabanas
The Limone Set
For lemon groves and long lunches
The Villa Set
For sun-baked terraces at golden hour
The Seaglass Set
For lazy days at the beach club
What we believe
Our design principles
Made for the American game
Every set is designed around American Mahjong as it is played from the annual card, jokers and flowers included.
Easy on the eyes
Clear, generous tile faces that read easily from across the table, in bright sun or by lamplight.
Colors with a sense of place
Palettes drawn from sea views, lemon groves, and sun-baked terracotta, chosen to bring a little summer to every table.
Pieces worth keeping
Considered details and thoughtfully selected materials, for sets you will be glad to bring out week after week.
Pull up a chair
Whether you have played for decades or are learning this summer, we are so glad you are here. Save us a seat.
Get in touch