BamChive is an independent Mahjong design brand founded by Circle Deng and Square Chen. Circle’s background in architectural design and Square’s background in product design shape original 160-tile American Mahjong sets and coordinated accessories for contemporary game nights.
We treat Mahjong as both a living tradition and a design language—connecting cultural research, original artwork, materials, and the pleasure of playing together.
The founders
Two design perspectives, one table
Circle begins with culture, atmosphere, visual language, and the relationships between ideas. Square begins with the object itself: how it is made, how it feels, how it functions, and whether it deserves to remain on someone’s table for years.
That difference is BamChive’s direction: objects with a story, and stories designed to be played.
Circle Deng
Circle grew up in Yunnan in southwest China, surrounded by landscapes, ethnic traditions, craft, color, and many ways of seeing and making the world. Studying architecture and living in different Chinese cities deepened her interest in how places shape people and how traditions transform across regions.
Her lens: culture, composition, visual storytelling, and the atmosphere that brings a collection to life.
Square Chen
Square grew up in Ningbo, Zhejiang, where Mahjong was part of family gatherings, long afternoons, conversation between rounds, and the familiar rhythm of tiles moving across the table. His product design background makes him attentive to proportion, material, weight, surface, usability, and repeated use.
His lens: materials, utility, tactile pleasure, and the details that make an object worth keeping.
Why did we create BamChive?
Mahjong is deeply traditional and remarkably open to interpretation. Its structure is familiar, but a Mahjong set can carry the memory of a place, the colors of a season, the atmosphere of a celebration, or the influence of another culture.
BamChive does not change Mahjong simply for novelty. We study what makes the game meaningful, then ask how design, craftsmanship, materials, and cultural exchange can carry that meaning into contemporary life.
BamChive: a living archive of Mahjong design
The name BamChive comes from “Bam Archive.” To us, an archive is not only a place that preserves the past. It is also where ideas are collected, compared, reinterpreted, and carried forward.
A new process or tactile possibility.
A new color world or cultural reference.
Another way to gather and play.
How does BamChive design American Mahjong sets?
We remain closely involved in every collection. Our process moves through research, drawing, color studies, material testing, unfinished samples, factory feedback, and repeated refinement. Some ideas survive almost unchanged; others become completely different when they meet real materials and production.
That gap between an idea and an object is where design becomes honest. A Mahjong tile may begin as an image or a story, but it must ultimately work in the hand: satisfying weight, readable artwork, a comfortable surface, durability, and pleasure in repeated play.
Complete the playing experience with our Mahjong racks and pushers, or read our beginner-friendly guide to American Mahjong.
How does BamChive approach cultural exchange?
Chinese tradition is one of BamChive’s foundations, but it is not a boundary. We are interested in conversations between Mahjong and other visual references—including Christmas, ocean imagery, contemporary art, architecture, fashion, and regional traditions from around the world.
For BamChive, cultural exchange should not flatten differences. Thoughtful design should make them more visible, more specific, and more alive.
Why is Mahjong more than an object?
The tiles are only part of the story. People sit down, stay longer than planned, talk, compete, laugh, and repeat familiar rituals without noticing them. Mahjong gives people a reason to gather.
When we design a BamChive set, we imagine the table it will live on, the hands that will hold it, and the memories that may become attached to it. A set should look beautiful in a photograph, but its real life begins when people play.
Reimagine Your Game
Every BamChive set begins with our interpretation. Once it reaches your table, it becomes part of your own story.