Thank You For The Kindness You Gave First

Five years ago, I was messaging my business partner one afternoon. We were talking about starting an online store — it felt like a good idea, a good business.

I'd been building online stores since I graduated college in 2009. Back then, I worked alongside the founder of SHEIN — so in my mind, an online store meant one thing: you need endless styles. But building something like SHEIN takes the kind of money we didn't have, and clothing felt impossibly crowded.

So I thought of a place back home — Zhongshan, China. The lighting capital of the world.

But we didn't want to sell cheap. We decided Lyfairs would carry only the finest pieces — the high-end work from the Star Light Alliance, where the best lighting workshops gather.

So I went there, walking into one crystal-chandelier showroom after another. The lamps were beautiful. They were also expensive — anywhere from a few thousand to a few hundred thousand dollars. Most of them didn't even want to let me near.

I asked, shop after shop: "Your chandeliers are so beautiful. Could I film them, to sell on our website, Lyfairs?"

That day, almost no one would hear me out. Their reason was always the same: "Sorry — our chandeliers are too expensive to sell online. We only work with brick-and-mortar showrooms in major cities, over a thousand square meters."

I'd been turned away so many times that I was ready to give up. One more shop, I told myself. Let me try my luck one last time.

And then I met her.

The moment I walked in, she greeted me warmly — "Welcome." I told her my idea: I want to work with you, to take your lamps to Lyfairs, and sell them to people all over the world.

She said: "That's such a cool idea! I hope you'll carry our lamps to people everywhere."During the shooting process, she was also very friendly and offered me water to drink.

She had been making lamps for eighteen years. She truly loved what she did. And that day, she became the very first supplier of Lyfairs.

I want to say this to her:

Thank you. I had been turned away the entire day, and you were the first person who didn't look at me through judging eyes. You chose to believe in me first — and you did it so warmly. You appeared in my life like a gift. Thank you for being kind to me first- before I had anything to offer in return. 

Because of you, Lyfairs had its first beautiful chandeliers. I could finally begin.

Thank you — to the kind ones who appeared in my life, exactly when I needed them.

— Marie, Founder of Lyfairs