Singapore Tatler

4 Homegrown Jewellers Share Their Proudest Moments Of The Year

"We were hit by Sars previously and had gone through many challenges then—that prepared us mentally in terms of facing the current pandemic. We already have our e-commerce business going, but during the circuit breaker, we took the opportunity to revamp our website, update our collections, as well as keep up with our presence on social media. Surprisingly, we’ve gotten more responses than before, with more people reaching out to us for bespoke pieces.

While the pandemic did have some impact on gemstone-sourcing, we were not affected in terms of fabrication since we had our own line of production in Singapore. Our theme for this year is wearable pieces, which is timely and helped business.

Business aside, we are proud to be able to do our little part for society during the circuit breaker period. We gathered members of our trade and clients to donate and deliver fruits to migrant worker dormitories through the Apple from Our Hearts initiative organised by myself, alongside YMCA, Hope Initiative Alliance, Agape and Enabling Village. We also sent food to the less fortunate from house to house and got to understand how the pandemic has affected them. In fact, by doing that, we realised how fortunate we are. We have learnt to stay positive, as well as how to plan ahead, motivate our staff and stay strong as a team."

—Michael Koh, founder of Caratell