Faded Gems | Timeless
Nai Cheun'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.
Nah Cheun 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
What started as a goldsmithing business evolved to include a variety of gemstones that catered to changing customer tastes.
Nah Cheun 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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LifestyleTranscript
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.