In the home economics classes that Ho Wen-jean (何文靜) has taken since childhood, she has achieved nearly perfect scores in all of them for her handmade products.
However, it was not until 2006 that Ho, at the age of 46, decided to quit her senior management job at a leading digital media company to learn the basics of jewelry design.
Ho set up a stall at a weekend arts and crafts markets in Taipei to sell her handmade jewelry — until her jewelry design teacher, Wong Mei-ling (王美玲), stopped her.
PHOTO: CNA
“These beautiful things should not be displayed at an outdoor stall,” Ho quoted Wong as saying at the time.
The two women then decided to start their own jewelry business — Fenice Design (水鳳凰設計) — with capital of NT$2 million (US$63,000), in late 2007.
In less than a year, Fenice (“phoenix” in Italian) Design became the only Taiwanese company to have been invited to exhibit at the Eclat de Mode 2008 fashion jewelry show in Paris.
PHOTO: CNA
However, it was the Taiwan International Cultural and Creative Industries Exhibition, held in October 2008, that Ho describes as a turning point for Fenice Design, making it the first contemporary creative jewelry brand in Taiwan’s cultural creative industry.
“In the beginning, we wanted to aim at international markets, but surprisingly, we were quickly accepted by the cultural creative industry in Taiwan,” said Ho, who is CEO of Fenice Design.
Through the exhibition, several local museums and historic spots expressed interest in selling Fenice pieces, which is how the company started to establish its retail sites.
More importantly, by stepping into the cultural creative industry, Ho quickly learned that she could seek more resources and assistance from the government.
The company, which had little money and lacked large orders in the early stages, received a subsidy from the Small Business Innovation Research, as well as from the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Assisted Service Sector Technology Development Program. In addition, it also won an arts grant from the Council for Cultural Affairs and a subsidy from the Ministry of Education for cultivating next-generation jewelry design talent.
“We survive because of the government subsidies,” Ho said, adding that the company received nearly NT$2 million from the government last year.
Mike Kao (高玉麟), a senior project manager at the Taiwan Design Center (台灣創意設計中心), said Ho’s company is one of the few companies in Taiwan that has been able to obtain resources and help from the government.
“They are very smart,” said Kao, who has been providing services to Ho’s company for the past few years. “They became familiar with all the procedures, and now they know the ropes.”
However, money is still the biggest issue for Ho, as she is spending about 30 percent of the company’s budget on research and development in jewelry design technology.
“It is nearly impossible to do it without the help of technology,” said Ho, who has an MA in communication arts from the New York Institute of Technology.
Her company’s paper-cut collection, for example, requires laser-cutting technology, and they also use robotics to help with carving.
The skills and technology employed at Fenice have also come to the attention of a top Taiwanese jewelry company, which is in discussions with Fenice Design on sharing know-how.
“They know how to deal with gemstones, but they do not know how to deal with metals,” Ho said.
Ho said Fenice will spend more money next year on acquiring new anti-oxidation technology that can prevent silver jewelry from turning black.
In order to win more sales, she also made a bold move early this year by going to the Eslite Bookstore (誠品書店) — the largest bookstore chain in Taiwan — to sound out the possibility of setting up a site at its flagship store in Taipei to sell her products, which are normally displayed at exhibitions or museum shops.
Eslite not only agreed to offer the new company a hot spot near its entrance as a short-term counter, but also agreed that the company could set up a permanent counter later this year.
“I need to directly face customers to know what they really like,” said Ho, who became a saleswoman for the first time in her life for almost a week after the counter opened in February.
Ho is now quite certain that her clients are mostly females aged 35 to 50 years old.
“Most of them already have diamonds and semi-precious stones. Now, they want to have something different from other people,” she said.
To better meet clients’ needs, Ho recently launched a customization service and received a dozen orders in a single month.
She is now more confident that her company, which increased its capital to NT$5 million last year, can break even this year and increase the company’s footprint to three or four retail sites around the country.
However, she is still unsure when the company will be able to achieve a profit margin of at least 35 percent.
In an effort to save on costs, Fenice tried outsourcing some products to a factory on Bali Island in Indonesia last year, a move that was unsuccessful.
“Their handicraft skills were not acceptable at all,” Ho said.
Therefore, the company put more efforts into equipping young talent with delicate polishing skills — a time-consuming process.
In addition, the company is still facing capital pressure, which might slow the pace of its overseas market expansion.
Kao said Fenice Design has not yet participated in the world’s largest jewelry show in Basel, Switzerland, but Ho said she needs to weigh the cost of participating in a jewelry show that will cost the company NT$700,000.
“We’ve been moving fast in order to survive because we don’t have deep pockets or a strong background,” Ho said. “However, sometimes you just need to sit for a while before you take another jump.”
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