Niki and I have been friends for over ten years, one of us in the UK, one in China. For most of that time, we were on separate paths that didn't seem to lead anywhere together.

I (Zi) spent years in retail, strategy, and consulting. On paper, it was a successful career. But something was missing: a sense that work could mean more than efficiency and growth targets. The shift came slowly: a yoga practice that deepened into teacher training, an encounter with Buddhist mindfulness philosophy, and a quiet but persistent question. What would it look like to build something that reflects how I actually want to live? 

Niki was sitting with similar questions, half a world away. Years working in retail real estate across China meant watching, up close, what gets valued and what gets overlooked. Thoughtful, skilled, and beautiful work, but almost none of it reaches the West. What people see instead is "Made in China", a phrase that has come to mean the opposite of craft.

That is a story worth telling differently. Soft Living Collective is our attempt to build that bridge and inspire a different lifestyle. We're not in a rush. We're building this the way we believe things should be built: with patience, intention, and respect for the makers who trust us with their work.

Zihan Liu (Zi)

Founder