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Newly twillified and out for a spin this morning (looking for Nasi lemak) yumm
pm pls...
for the twilly..so pandai to ikat one...Yes, Hermes does get some of their croc/gator skins from Singapore. I posted this article back. The company is Heng Long International. LVMH now have a share in the business. One of their son is bag designer, Ethan Khoo or commonly known as Ethan K. They have been invited by Hermes to their Atelier and have been in partnership for many years.
http://forum.purseblog.com/hermes/asians-and-hermes-590067-262.html#post20284883 & http://forum.purseblog.com/hermes/asians-and-hermes-590067-253.html#post20164149
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Excerpt of article: http://shops.st701.com/resources/index.php?c=article&aid=35994&title=Tanning-king
Mr Koh Chon Tong is a crocodile expert.
No, not because he wrestles with the creatures on television but because he knows the dead ones so well. Or more specifically, their skins.
The 60-year-old is the managing director of reptile skin tannery Heng Long International, a home-grown business that is among the top five tanneries in the world.
Following him on a tour of his factory is like attending a crash course in the crocodile skin trade. He rattles off the names of species of crocodiles and alligators faster than you can jot down in your notebook.
This is the Nile crocodile from Africa, he says, stroking a pile of white, undyed skins. That is the caiman from South America, stroking yet another pile of white, undyed skins. To the untrained layman's eye, the skins look the same.
How to tell the difference between crocodile and alligator leather? Crocodiles have pores on each scale, so look out for the tiny dots.
For more than 40 years, Mr Koh was a low-key businessman who helped grow a small family business into a fully mechanised outfit in Defu industrial estate employing 170 people.
About 250,000 skins pass through his factory a year to be tanned and dyed, before they are shipped to luxury fashion houses such as Louis Vuitton, Prada and Hermes to be made into their much coveted bags and shoes.
The firm listed on the Singapore Exchange made $53.7 million last year in total revenue and a profit of $5.4 million.
To people outside the luxury fashion goods industry, Heng Long was a little- known player until October when French luxury goods giant LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA (LVMH) bought it over in a deal worth $161 million.
The Kohs have reinvested part of the proceeds to take a 49 per cent stake in the company, with LVMH owning the remaining 51 per cent.
The deal may have thrust the family business into the global spotlight but it has not changed the way Mr Koh runs his company. Things are still done the old-fashioned way - the old-school towkay speaks Teochew in the office and his staff stand up to greet him 'lao ban' ('boss' in Mandarin).
Heng Long will keep its dialect name - it means 'prosperous' in Teochew. Besides supplying skins to LVMH brands including Celine, Fendi and Loewe, it will continue to sell to fashion houses outside of the French group, such as Hermes, Prada and local bag-maker Kwanpen.
Its management will also remain the same for the next five years. Mr Koh remains managing director, his younger brother Choon Heong, 58, the executive director. His sister-in-law Toh Kheng Song, 55, is the treasury and corporate affairs manager. His son Albert, 29, is the production coordinator.
Mr Koh may be a veteran supplier of skins in the luxury fashion market but the costly indulgences of the super-rich still seem to amuse him.
He says a crocodile skin costs $1,000 and the iconic Hermes Birkin bag uses the skins of four animals. 'Then they sell the bag for $50,000 to $60,000 and there is a waiting list,' he says, chuckling.
Mr Koh's younger son Ethan, 25, says his father is an artist. 'He just doesn't know it.'
Ethan, a bag designer whose exotic skin creations are sold in London's posh Harrods department stores, says adjusting the colour of the skin is the most difficult part of the production process.
'Sometimes, clients give us a flower and ask us to replicate the colour,' he says with a laugh. 'And my father will do it.'
The elder Mr Koh's expertise came from years of immersing himself in the tanning business.
Thank u
Oh I changed the color of the picture. It's actually orange
Orange???? My faberet
You have very good taste Amanda, beautiful car beautiful bag
amandakmc said:CFH - You r like my DH. He loves Godiva. He is going to give up choc for lent. On tue morning, he ate choc for breakfast before ash Wednesday!!
I love your idea of BBF in Tiffany nasi lemak style!!
bjorn said:Kak love love love the interior! My dream interior...i bet uncle chose it
DH and I are trying to guess but we are not 100% sure..can help me to tell me the answer
Of course i love the B too..and give you
I want to see you in Tiffany style!!! May I request nasi lemak on a banana leaf? ush:Now we also only have paper banana leaves
