Faded Gems | Timeless - video Dailymotion

AsiaOne

Ho Nai Chuen's father started the family business of jewellery retailing in 1936.   What started as a goldsmithing business evolved to include a variety of gemstones that catered to changing customer tastes.   Nai Chuen explains design processes that they've honed over the decades, as well as the undeniable need to modernise and industrialise.   Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video

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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.

Faded Gems | Timeless

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