Kwanpen’s third-generation leader, Jonathan Kwan: ‘As children, we take things for granted’
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Kwanpen's third-generation leader, Jonathan Kwan: 'Equally children, we take things for granted'
In the quaternary episode of CNA Luxury'southward podcast series Next Gen, leather goods scion Jonathan Kwan explains why family is as important equally business (and vice versa), and reveals how he only understood the sacrifices his parents made when he himself became a dad.
Jonathan, 38, is the grandson of Kwanpen founder, the belatedly Kwan Pen Seng. (Photo: Aik Chen)
08 November 2022 06:29AM (Updated: 08 Nov 2022 01:24PM)
Name any luxury style brand and chances are, it will have an iconic product with a story to tell and a reason for beingness. In the case of Singapore leather goods label Kwanpen, that signature particular is the Raffles 1819 Purse.
As Jonathan Kwan, Kwanpen's director of special projects relates, the story goes that one of the company'southward start boutiques was in Raffles Singapore. When the designers were tasked to conjure up a new handbag, they took inspiration from the g dame.
"The metallic bar on the bag resembles ane of the pillars of Raffles Hotel. The two pieces of hardware on either side of the bag stand for Family and Business organization. Family is as of import as Business, and Business is as important equally Family. The two symmetrical pieces of crocodile leather also represent that."
Jonathan, 38, is the grandson of Kwanpen founder, the belatedly Kwan Pen Seng, who was trained as a goldsmith in Guangzhou, China. When he migrated to Singapore in the 1930s, he found work with a number of local goldsmiths, simply soon realised that his income would not be enough to back up his family unit of 7 – his wife and their five boys.
For the enterprising migrant, the only solution was to get-go his ain business. With Singapore nether colonial dominion, Pen Seng struck upon the idea of crafting crocodile skin bags for British aristocrats. "At that time, crocodile leather was i of the cheapest leathers on the market. They used the dorsum of the crocodile, which was spiny. Nobody wanted it. Merely my grandad did, considering he had limited funds," shared Jonathan.
Pen Seng knew that if he used cow leather, the designs would exist too easy to replicate. And he targeted the British aristocrats because they knew how to appreciate crocodile leather goods.
"Crocodile leather was known to be difficult to piece of work with, and then naturally the prices went up," Jonathan added. "And crocodiles are difficult to brood – they're non docile creatures, unlike cows and sheep. Now crocodile leather is the nearly expensive. But information technology merely then happens… that nosotros started early."
How the company got its name was a matter of happenstance. The British, accustomed to the Western proper noun guild (first name followed by family proper name), referred to Jonathan's gramps equally "Kwan Pen", and the moniker stuck. But it wasn't until much afterwards that the company rebranded itself as Kwanpen. Listen to our podcast below to hear the total story.
"In the 1980s when we first opened our shop, Japanese tourists were flooding Singapore and the earth. We called ourselves 'Ginza', afterward the Tokyo district. One day, we realised that nosotros should name the company afterward my granddad," Jonathan explained. The company logo, which resembles 2 "K"'southward on peak of each other, is really a stylised form of "Kwan" in Chinese.
Pen Seng passed away before Jonathan was built-in, but he made sure to impart his concern acumen and craftsmanship skills to his five sons. Today, Kwanpen is a global brand with boutiques in nine locations from Bangkok to Istanbul. The Singapore flagship is located in The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, and the visitor is presided over past Jonathan's father, Leonard.
What, then, is Jonathan'south role in the company? "I don't really have a fixed scope," came the respond. "[I] take to do everything under the sun. For example, the opening of new shops, downwards to marketing, all different parts of the company. Information technology helps me understand the company amend."
Uniquely, the entire Kwan clan lives in the same condominium circuitous. "Our family [is] quite close-knit. Nosotros similar to stay close to each other." Earlier the family unit moved into the condominium, they lived in a rented house in Hougang, where Jonathan was born. Presently later, they moved into an HDB flat in Balestier, but in the 1980s, business boomed, and so all five brothers decided to buy an apartment for their female parent.
At that fourth dimension, Jonathan'southward uncles were non married notwithstanding, so they all moved in with his grandmother. Leonard moved into a separate unit with his family. Explaining the fraternal bonds, Jonathan said: "The 5 of them have an understanding that is not understood by anyone else apart from the five of them." Equally Jonathan'south uncles grew older and got married, they moved out but bought units in the same estate.
"My grandfather used to say, 'One chopstick is easy to break. But five chopsticks are much harder to break.' I think those were his last words to them. Like any business organisation, there are arguments, only they're nevertheless together." One of his uncles started his ain market research business outside, but he helps out every now and so, whenever he'southward needed.
"My grandfather used to say, 'One chopstick is like shooting fish in a barrel to pause. But five chopsticks are much harder to interruption'." – Jonathan Kwan
There are many benefits to living in the same circuitous, explained Jonathan. Earlier the pandemic, there were always impromptu family unit dinners and meet-ups, on tiptop of monthly get-togethers. During the pandemic, his uncles would have turns buying food for the unabridged clan. "Somebody would go and buy some famous bak kut teh and then they would distribute it, or somebody would buy char kway teow and then suddenly you take char kway teow!"
When he was younger, Jonathan enjoyed the visitor of his cousins, with whom he would play in and around the manor. "I think information technology's fun. Information technology's good growing up and getting to know all your cousins. I wouldn't have it any other manner."
The family, says Jonathan, considers itself the guardians and gatekeepers of the business. His father and uncles are doing everything they tin can to make sure that things run smoothly for Jonathan and other members of the third generation (which consists of his brother, sis and ii cousins who are working for the firm). None of them, he adds, feel every bit if they ain the company per se.
"It'south similar football game, you're passing the ball to the next person. If in football you accept a radio, and you can talk to the person y'all're going to pass to, that'll exist the best matter to have, because you can tell him where the brawl is going to come from. It would be a smooth transition."
As for the saying that the third generation is the weakest link, Jonathan had this to say: "There might be some truth to that. The showtime generation started the business. The second generation made it big. Patently, something that the second generation did was better than the first to make it more than successful.
"When it comes to the 3rd generation, the second generation will dubiousness them, because they're the ones who made it successful. The tertiary generation joins the concern subsequently it became successful." Jonathan himself joined the visitor in 2011, after two years of working in some other company. Lucky for him, his father never put pressure level on him. This goes some style in explaining Jonathan's casual, low-key demeanour.
His father believes that people accept time to grow into their roles. "There isn't really a target to be met. In that location isn't an ROI to striking. Yous come into business and you start learning." Retirement, he adds, is not a word in the family unit. "There are no fixed rules, or timing, when you should retire or when you should hand it off to the next person. As with all family unit businesses, they will e'er be there, looking over it, fifty-fifty though they're not running the 24-hour interval-to-day business."
Like many children of business owners, Jonathan didn't get to spend much time with his father when he was younger. The latter was always busy in the office or travelling. It was only when he joined Kwanpen that the two became shut. "Afterwards I became a dad myself, we got even closer, because I finally realised that it'south not then easy being a dad," he said, referring to his iii-year-former son with married woman Park Sung-hye. The couple tied the knot in 2016.
"I call up as children, we tend to accept things for granted. In my case, well, I didn't realise how much sacrifices both my dad and my mum made to send me to university, for example, or even just to put food on the table. They worked really difficult. And they always made sure that the family was well taken intendance of."
"As children, we tend to have things for granted… I didn't realise how much sacrifices both my dad and my mum made… They worked really difficult. And they e'er made sure that the family was well taken care of." – Jonathan Kwan
The Next Gen podcast is brought to yous by Jaeger-LeCoultre. Heed to our interview with Jonathan Kwan here.
New episodes of Side by side Gen are published every Sunday at cna.asia/podcasts
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