Thank You for Finding It, in All the World

Dear Lyfairs,

We just opened a trade account with you. We saw a light we love, and we want to buy it for one of our clients. It's the hand-blown glass globe branch chandelier.

Could you make the finish polished nickel? Could you make it a little longer, and a little taller? I want it in this size: L60" × W34" × H26".

How long does it take to make? And how long to reach Miami?

— a designer, buying it not for herself

Dear friend,

Yes. Yes to all of it.

Yes, we can make the finish polished nickel. Yes, we can make it L60" × W34" × H26", just the size you want. You know the room. We don't. So the size and the finish are yours to choose, and we will make it to your word.

Let me tell you how it will go, step by step, so nothing is a mystery.

First, we talk. You tell us everything about the light, and the room it's going to. Then our designer draws it. The whole light, on paper, at your size, in polished nickel. We send the drawing to you, and we don't make anything until you look at it and say yes. We never start from a guess.

Then we make it. When it is finished, we do not pack it right away. First we hang it up in our workshop. We turn it on. We film a little video, and we send it to you. We want you to see the real light, shining, before it ever goes in a box. You watch it. If everything is right, you tell us yes. Only then do we wrap it up and ship it to Miami.

There were two words in your letter we kept thinking about. You said you were buying it for a client.

So this light wasn't coming home with you. You were sending it on to someone else. Someone who trusts you, and asked you to choose for them. When you chose us, you were telling that person something: trust me, this light is a good one.

That is why we draw first, and film before we ship. Not for us. For you. So that when you stand in front of your client, you can stand there calm. So that when the box is opened, there is no surprise. Not even a small one. You have already seen the light. You already know it is good.

You see, in all the wide world, thank you for hearing our language, and trusting us. We heard your language too. In this great big universe, we crossed paths, just once. And together, we helped this little light finish what it was made for. We carried it home, to the place that was right for it.

It hangs there now, shining. It is happy.

Thinking of you, Marie, Lyfairs

Letters to Lyfairs is where we answer real people, one letter at a time, in our own words. If you're a designer or an architect carrying a project for a client, our trade program was made for moments like this. Write to us at support@lyfairs.com. Some letters become quotes. Some become drawings. This one became a light a designer could put her name beside.