00:00There's a time that you really think of,
00:02is it going to be the end of the business?
00:04So it's always on my mind,
00:06you think that there's hope,
00:07you endeavour to make sure that you can ride through.
00:31My name is Ngai Chuan, my surname is Ho.
00:34We are in the jewellery retail since 1936.
00:38This is a company, On Choon Jewellery,
00:40set up by my father in 1936
00:43and I have been running this company ever since 1982.
00:48It's already been here for 88 years.
00:51My father worked as an apprentice in Malaysia,
00:55Ipoh and Penang before venturing to Singapore
00:59with another two partners to set up this On Choon company.
01:04That's my father, together with two partners.
01:07So you know how they wore sandals
01:10and it's a very simple setting,
01:12it's only half of the row of the counter at the shop.
01:18During those days, people from China,
01:20they moved to Singapore
01:22and the main objective is survival.
01:25He set up the company when the entire world
01:30was in the Second World War.
01:32He gave the name On Choon.
01:34The objective is to say that
01:36I hope for peace and prosperity in the business.
01:41My father, he passed away in 1965
01:44and then my mother took over the business from 1965.
01:51Three years before she passed away,
01:53when I was working as an accountant,
01:56we had a nice talk.
01:58So the problem is the continuation of the business.
02:01In my family, there's only one person like me
02:05studying business and accountancy.
02:09So naturally, all the siblings would say
02:11that maybe you're the best choice to run the business.
02:14That's how I came into the picture
02:16and with trust and honesty,
02:19I have been running this business since 1985.
02:24This is another picture of the 1980s
02:27when my mother was still there
02:29and my eldest brother and also my uncle,
02:31some of the relatives.
02:34This industry developed
02:36after Singapore became an independent nation.
02:38As you become more affluent, everything is changing
02:41and people tend to ask for more.
02:43I found myself in a situation
02:45where there's a mismatch of expectations.
02:48So I told myself that
02:50if I would like to continue the business,
02:53I need to do some changes.
02:56In the 1970s or before that,
02:58goldsmiths usually sold gold.
03:00I would say that during those days,
03:02it was a very simple design.
03:04Gold chain is gold chain.
03:05There's no variation.
03:07Gold ring is gold ring.
03:08So it's a very simple goldsmithing.
03:11But from that point of time,
03:13we realised that actually
03:15there are many, many kinds of jewellery
03:18that we can offer to the customers.
03:21And we have to think out of the box
03:23and make sure that what we are selling
03:25is what the customer needs.
03:27And we cannot restrict ourselves
03:29to what we have been doing in the past.
03:32And from the 1970s onwards,
03:34we got in touch with diamond jewellery,
03:37gemstone jewellery.
03:39So you can see the variety growing.
03:41Originally, the company was called
03:43On Cheong Goldsmith.
03:45And now it's called On Cheong Jewellery.
03:53In the 1980s,
03:55there was something called a chain store.
03:58The chain store concept is that
04:00you sell by numbers.
04:02That means a single design
04:04you make into many, many pieces
04:06and you offer in different outlets
04:08all over the place.
04:09So I think there's a change in the landscape
04:11between franchising
04:13and also a bespoke kind of jewellery.
04:18I never thought of venturing into franchising
04:23and even opening many, many outlets.
04:26But on the other hand,
04:28if you want to make yourself distinctive
04:30in the jewellery world,
04:31you have to make sure that
04:32what you are selling is really very unique.
04:35Something that other jewellery shops
04:37do not offer.
04:44You can see when you come into On Cheong,
04:46you look at it, wow.
04:48You have something different
04:49from other jewellery shops.
04:51Especially in terms of jade jewellery.
04:53Jade jewellery is because
04:55I personally like jades.
04:57You tend to think of,
04:58oh, jade jewellery is like
05:00Guan Yin or the Buddha and so on.
05:03It's like religious-based.
05:04Actually, it can be much more
05:06than that.
05:09Jade in ancient China,
05:12you know that jade is very precious.
05:15You see some of the very good jade pieces
05:18originally from China
05:20being exhibited in the museums.
05:22So this can cost hundreds of million dollars.
05:25And as time goes by,
05:28we need to educate younger generation
05:30to understand jade is something
05:33that is very rare,
05:35especially natural gemstones.
05:37And very importantly,
05:39we have to be quite honest
05:43to the customers.
05:44Honest in the sense that
05:46if you sell something,
05:47you mean it
05:48and you have to sell what you say.
05:50You cannot say that this is genuine
05:53and on the other hand,
05:54it's man-made or synthetic.
05:56So we have to be quite sure
05:57of what we are selling.
06:00I personally go to different countries
06:02to do sourcing.
06:03To my understanding,
06:05it's better to look at your materials
06:08and then you come up with your designs.
06:10A good designer will be able to visualize
06:14how the design piece is going to be
06:17by looking at the color of the stones
06:19and the color of, say for example, jade
06:21with different odd sizes and so on.
06:24So you can more or less mind map yourself.
06:27The designer will be able to come up with
06:29certain things that the stone can fit in.
06:33So I think this is very key
06:34to designing unique pieces.
06:54You talk about passing down a generation
06:56of traditional skills.
06:58It's very hard for you to pick up the skill
07:00as the old craftsmen,
07:02most of them have already passed on.
07:04So the new generation of craftsmen,
07:06they learn different skills
07:08with technology to assist them.
07:11So you have computer-aided design,
07:13you also have things like 3D printing.
07:17So technology will change the entire world.
07:20There are many, many techniques
07:23being improved because of the improvement
07:25in the information technology.
07:33Now the craftsmen, they play a different role.
07:36Say, like alteration of sizes, setting,
07:40and also like repairing, polishing.
07:43They break it into processes
07:45rather than from process one to end.
07:54Some of the pieces,
07:55they have to go through a lot of processes.
07:59Some of the techniques still remain,
08:01but totally based on hand-crafting
08:05or craftsmanship, that may not work
08:07because it's time-consuming
08:09and doesn't make a lot of money.
08:14So there's a mix-and-match hybrid design
08:16to come together to make it
08:19something old, traditional,
08:21but inject with some new elements inside.
08:24So that is the thing that we are doing.
08:26So that is the thing that we are looking for
08:28to modernize the older design
08:30to make it more contemporary.
08:38The history of Singapore
08:39and the history of Hong Kong
08:40is like quite related in a sense.
08:42You see the nation building,
08:44you see how the nation
08:46has been transformed into a modern city.
08:49Hong Kong also came a long way
08:52from a very basic half a shophouse,
08:55half row of counter.
08:56Now we have a complete jewellery showroom
08:59and selling all ranges of jewellery
09:01rather than just gold.
09:06Hopefully you can see
09:07Kuan Cheng reach 100 years
09:09and now it's 88,
09:10I think it's not very far off.
09:12I hope I'm still healthy to run the business.
09:14I don't know who will be taking over me.
09:17Not necessarily that family members
09:19will run the company.
09:20As long as the value can be passed on.
09:24So far so good.
09:26So it's 40 over years
09:28I encountered many obstacles,
09:31many crises
09:33and throughout all this
09:36I managed to ride through,
09:38managed to make sure that
09:41the company can be a growing concern
09:44without any hiccups.
09:46Especially during the crisis like COVID
09:50and during SARS,
09:51the moment of shutting down
09:54for the time being
09:55without any customer footfall.
10:01I think in jewellery business
10:03trust is very important.
10:05Whatever you produce
10:06or whatever you offer
10:08you must say and you must do.
10:10It's what my father passed down to me.
10:16People name us
10:19Heritage Goldsmith, Heritage Jeweller
10:22but this is not important.
10:24What is important is that
10:26you have your heritage,
10:28you have your history.
10:3088 years, 80 years, 100 years
10:35to me, I think it's only the number.
10:38So the digit is only to look at
10:41but the content of the business
10:43is much more important.
10:45To see the world
10:47always with peace and prosperity
10:50in future.
10:52This is my father's vision.
10:54That's the legacy I'm chasing.
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