MAHJ, BABY!

Tigre de Tartán puts mahjong mats on the design world’s map.

Tigre de Tartán’s renegade designs are setting the mahjong gaming world on its ear. The company’s name says everything about its designs: wild, playful, a bit rebellious but with tradition, structure, and heritage still embodied in its creative DNA.

“I’ve always been drawn to beautiful, intentional things that combine art with everyday life in unexpected pairings,” says Tigre de Tartán’s founder Sunny Esler, “like putting fine art on a mahjong mat. So, the company name is a little wink to that blend—a nod to mixing boldness with classic design. And I wanted it to be in Spanish,” she adds, “because I am of Mexican descent.”

Tigre de Tartán’s first mahjong mats launched just last year and quickly vaulted the company into North Shore awareness, partly because Esler’s prints are designed collaboratively with a cadre of talented women. “I work with a small but mighty circle of independent female artists,” she explains, “mostly illustrators and textile designers—many of whom have done work for big brands like Lilly Pulitzer, Goyard, IKEA, and American Express.”

“What I really love is that each designer brings a sense of soul and individuality to everything they create with me,” adds Esler. “These aren’t just anonymous designs—they’re pieces of someone’s story. Our relationship is rooted in respect and collaboration. I treat my designers as true creative partners, not just vendors.”

To finalize each new print design, “we talk through concepts, color stories, even emotional tones,” Esler explains. “Sometimes I’ll bring a designer a spark of an idea (and a really terrible sketch), and they’ll run with it. Other times, a designer’s existing body of artwork inspires me to build an entire product around it. We work in layers—back and forth—until it feels like something only Tigre de Tartán could make. I love giving artists space to shine, and I think customers can feel that. It’s not mass-produced or generic—it’s personal. And it’s one of the most joyful parts of what I do.”

But why mahjong? Esler didn’t grow up around the game but fell in love with it in 2023 after a friend invited her to a lesson at the Women’s Athletic Club in Chicago. “I had heard that mahjong was enjoying a renaissance with younger women,” says Esler, “but beyond that and hearing that it was supposedly a fun, beautiful, and addictive game, I walked into the lesson knowing nothing. Mahjong turned out to be so much more layered and complicated than I expected. It felt like learning a whole new language. I was immediately hooked.”

Interestingly, Esler thinks her “outsider’s eye” allowed her to view the design aspect of the game with a fresh perspective, seeing new possibilities. “I noticed right away that the materials didn’t quite match the magic of the game,” she recalls. “The mats were either overly flashy or completely utilitarian and the tiles were often inconsistent. I kept thinking, ‘This deserves better.’”

With that spark as impetus and her degree in design from DePaul as background, Esler took the prints she had been designing as cinchable liners for tote bags and started putting them on mahjong mats. “I didn’t just want to play the game,” she says. “I wanted to reimagine the whole experience through the lens of an artist. To make it tactile, beautiful, and personal.”

After introducing just one design in March 2024, Esler quickly realized there was room to grow. She began releasing new mat patterns every few months—some bold and colorful, others more neutral and textural. Then came the accessories: monogrammable Nappa leather tile bags, slouchy jumbo totes, tile racks, and pushers—even tournament-style tile sets. “I wanted everything to feel cohesive, like a curated tabletop experience rather than a hodgepodge of random gear,” Esler explains.

Tigre de Tartán now offers a dozen core mat designs, plus limited editions, and custom options throughout the year. But while the Tigre de Tartán’s mahjong collection is currently the company’s most popular category, “the brand is so much more than that!” Esler enthuses.

Esler draws from over 100 designs in the print library to make everything from baseball caps, dinner plates, and cocktail napkins to bridge playing cards, with new prints still coming. Recently, Esler launched Tigre de Tartán’s first-ever round mahjong mat, designed in colors matching the game room Liz Sherwood of White Couch Design did for this year’s Lake Forest Showhouse. A percentage of proceeds from that mat’s sale through the Tigre de Tartán website will benefit the Infant Welfare Society of Chicago.

For summer release, Esler is currently collaborating with local artist Martha Nippert on a print with a Gilson Beach motif. “It will have all of the North Shore signifiers,” says Esler. “Loyola sweatshirts tossed over beach chairs … copies of Sheridan Road magazine on the beach blanket … even an empty can of Green River in the sand,” Esler smiles.

And for the winter holidays, Esler is working with Lilly Pulitzer designer Paige Spearin on a print with a New York City theme that will run across all Tigre de Tartán product categories, including a mahjong set with elements from Bemelmans Bar. In sum? “I like to say we’re here for the people who appreciate beauty but don’t take themselves too seriously,” says Esler. “Classic, a little cheeky, and always art-driven.”