How It Started

The Origin of WEDO

WEDO began during a difficult turning point in our lives. During the pandemic, the company we had built before came to an end, and Sword and Claire had to start again from almost nothing.

While moving, Sword came across the bullet shell lighters he had collected over the years — more than a dozen pieces made by old craftsmen. He had always loved the idea of them. They looked bold, detailed, and full of history. But none of them felt like something he truly wanted to use every day. Some were difficult to ignite, some did not seal well, and some had sliding covers that were hard to open. They were beautiful to look at, but frustrating to use.

Claire had seen how much Sword enjoyed collecting and studying unusual mechanical objects, and she knew his hands-on ability to take things apart, rebuild them, and improve the details. So she said something simple that stayed with him: if he loved the idea this much, why not try making his own bullet shell lighter — one that worked better, felt better, and carried more character?

During the long months of staying home through the pandemic, that idea kept coming back to us. When life began to open again in early 2023, we decided not to keep waiting or only thinking about it. We started doing.

That is where the name WEDO came from. In English, it sounds like “We Do” — a reminder to take action. In Chinese, it also carries the idea of helping ourselves through, finding a way forward with our own hands. For us, WEDO means that when life reaches a difficult point, the way through often begins when you start doing.

We Started by Learning, Not Selling

From a Rented Room

That decision started in a rented room. Sword and Claire began learning how to make bullet shell lighters from the ground up, studying the structure, movement, ignition, fit, grip, and feel before slowly turning the idea into something real. Every measurement, proportion, and small adjustment was recorded, tested, and changed again until the lighter felt right in the hand.

One of the biggest changes was the bolt-action structure, inspired by the way a rifle bolt moves. Instead of keeping the hard-to-open sliding-cover lighter design Sword first received, we developed our own bolt-action lighter mechanism — smoother to open, lighter to operate, and more satisfying in the hand. Along the way, we kept adding more craft, surface work, finishing techniques, and visual details to bring more character into every piece.

Over more than a year, more than 100 improvements went into the mechanism, proportions, usability, finish, and appearance before we felt ready to bring WEDO to the market in mid-2024. We were not chasing the fastest way to sell. We wanted to make something we would feel proud to carry, use, gift, and send out.