The News Straits Times (NST) article is out! I'm utterly suprise. It was a quick one! I got interviewed on Monday and it's out today Thursday 30th August 2007. And early independance day pressies. Do read all about it with the title Trinkets Made With Love under the Life and Times section on pages 66 and 67. Happy reading and a happy Merdeka to all Malaysians.
Otherwise, just read below for the full write-up or visit this link for the e-version on NST online.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Thursday/Features/20070829174045/Article/pppull_index_html
Otherwise, just read below for the full write-up or visit this link for the e-version on NST online.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Thursday/Features/20070829174045/Article/pppull_index_html
Above: Double page spread on Sze Accessories in NST.
Above: First page in NST.
Above: Second page in NST.Trinkets made with love
By SYIDA LIZTA AMIRUL IHSAN10 September, 2007
.
Tan Sze Yoong sells accessories online and each one is made with love. SYIDA LIZTA AMIRUL IHSAN speaks to the young woman who gave up her job for her passion.
.
“ARE you coming with a photographer? If you are, I need to clean up my work space a bit,” said Tan Sze Yoong in an e-mail three days before the interview. But as it turned out, she did more than tidy her “attic office” with a gorgeous view overlooking the Seri Selangor golf course.
.
When I arrived 15 minutes early at her family home in Damansara Indah, Petaling Jaya, everything was ready. On a wooden shelf, she had neatly arranged the jewellery she crafted. On a patio table, her tools were lined up precisely: pliers, wires, beads in clear bottles and clasps — just in case I needed action shots of her making jewellery.
.
But I should have expected this from a girl who sent a 10-page press release to the office detailing her venture into jewellery making, complete with a backgrounder, product shots and even a list of FAQs. And she did it all on her own.
.
“I could not sleep last night — I was so nervous!” she said towards the end of our meeting. “I wanted to sleep but couldn’t. This is my first interview, so I woke up at 7am to arrange and make sure everything was ready!”And she was more than ready.
.
She’s talkative, bubbly and 10 minutes into the interview she was coaxing me into revealing my own passion — gift wrapping.
.
In case you’re wondering how she got so media-savvy, she did public relations and training for cosmetics house Estee Lauder. She is also a perfectionist, the personification of the dictum “everything worth doing is worth doing well”.
.
Career-wise, she now puts her heart, soul, attention and money into Sze Accessories, her online store. She doesn’t duplicate her pieces, she wants them to be special so her customers don’t bump into each other and find out they are wearing the same things.
.
Once at a wedding, she saw a gorgeous woman in a beautiful dress. But someone else was wearing exactly the same outfit so the woman changed into another dress which she had kept in her car.
.
“She didn’t look that great, but she didn’t care. She just didn’t want to look like another woman! I think we all want to look different. We possess our own style. Accessories are a way of showing that individuality.”
.
After saving half her salary for more than two years, she quit her job at Estee Lauder six months ago and started buying beads which she then made into colourful bracelets, keychains, necklaces and earrings. Early this month, she launched her online store, szeaccessories.com with four different ranges of accessories.
.
She has been making accessories since she was a girl. While studying mass communications in Perth, Australia, she made accessories for herself and her friends. It was a passion. Some of her friends sell cakes and bodycare products online, so she thought, why not accessories?
.
“There’s something about making accessories that I find very therapeutic. The light, the colours, it is all very calming. But I know that when I feel down, I cannot bead. I’ll be sitting around for hours and nothing will come out right.”
.
Her collection can best be described as girly; a charming mix of charms that will make you feel like a girl playing dress-up. Her cameo charm spells vintage, the elephant pendant is adorable and her fashionista necklace is adorned with miniature handbags, tunics, Mary Janes, hearts and a key. Very cute.
.
She gets inspiration from nature. She calls it her perfect colour chart because “everything matches well”.
.
I ask her if she feels that accessories-making is a fall back career choice considering that many are venturing down the same road.
.
“The accessories market is very saturated, what with many people venturing into the same business. People come to me and say they can buy three pairs of earrings for RM10, why should they buy mine? Yet I also have repeat customers who buy because I don’t duplicate.”
.
She tells prospective customers that her pieces are handmade, they are sourced from her travels — from the United Kingdom to Malaysia — and she doesn’t mass-produce. She admits that while she finds making accessories fun, it’s not necessarily easy.
.
“I taught my best friend how to make her own accessories and she ended up telling me that it’s tedious so she would rather fork out money and buy them from me!”
.
The petite 25-year-old lives with her parents (“You can save a lot, you know”). Giving up paid employment was a leap into the unknown. Gone are paydays, medical benefits and Employee Provident Fund.
.
“But life is so short... my uncle told me I should do it so I don’t have any hang-ups later. I have always wanted to open my own business. And I thought if this doesn’t work out, I could always go back to work.”
.
Quitting her job, she says, taught her money is hard to come by, something employees take for granted. “Now, I skip RM15 Starbucks coffee for a kopitiam brew, and I don’t shop so much, I wait for a sale. It’s a change of lifestyle, essentially.
.
“Working on your own isn’t easy. I put in eight hours daily, at least, these days. When you are an employee you can leave work at the office and work on it tomorrow. If it’s your own business, you either make or break. You become more responsible.”
.
Yet she enjoys every minute of it. She receives three to four orders daily, not bad for a website that has been online for less than a month. The finished products are stored in tiny bags and neatly arranged in her drawer.
.
Each piece of Sze Yoong’s jewellery (except earrings, for obvious reasons) carries a little heart-shaped mini-pendant, scribbled “Made With Love” in what looks like a kid’s handwriting.
.
It’s part of her signature, she says. But I think it’s more than just an emblem. It’s the promise of an accessory well-made. With love.
.
Sze Accessories is on-line at www.szeaccessories.com. For more information, e-mail szeyoong@szeaccessories.com.
On Sze Yoong’s work table:
1. Louis Vuitton organiser in Daumier check:“It’s my diary. I keep all my schedules in this faithful organiser which I received from my parents at Christmas. It doesn’t fray or fade. It looks the exactly the same as when I first received it four years ago.”
.
2. Montblanc rollerball pen, engraved with her name:“This was my parents’ graduation gift to me. It’s almost cliched, getting a pen for your graduation... but I love it. My ink colour? Black, definitely.”
.
3. Confessions of an Heiress by Paris Hilton:“She may be portrayed as ditsy, but somehow I think she’s a smart person. I mean, she sings, acts, has her own clothing line and fragrance — an airhead won’t be able to do all that!”
.
4. Daily Candy A-Z: An Inside Guide to the Sweet Life:“This is my personal style guide, with pretty illustrations to boot.”
.
5. Precious Moments Bible“I like art, and Precious Moments has cute drawings of the boy and girl and I adore that.”
.
6. iPod Nano 4G in fuschia:“My iPod playlist consists of modern Christian songs. They are religious, but they are also pleasant to the ear.”
© Copyright 2007 The New Straits Times Press (M) Berhad. All rights reserved.
By SYIDA LIZTA AMIRUL IHSAN10 September, 2007
.
Tan Sze Yoong sells accessories online and each one is made with love. SYIDA LIZTA AMIRUL IHSAN speaks to the young woman who gave up her job for her passion.
.
“ARE you coming with a photographer? If you are, I need to clean up my work space a bit,” said Tan Sze Yoong in an e-mail three days before the interview. But as it turned out, she did more than tidy her “attic office” with a gorgeous view overlooking the Seri Selangor golf course.
.
When I arrived 15 minutes early at her family home in Damansara Indah, Petaling Jaya, everything was ready. On a wooden shelf, she had neatly arranged the jewellery she crafted. On a patio table, her tools were lined up precisely: pliers, wires, beads in clear bottles and clasps — just in case I needed action shots of her making jewellery.
.
But I should have expected this from a girl who sent a 10-page press release to the office detailing her venture into jewellery making, complete with a backgrounder, product shots and even a list of FAQs. And she did it all on her own.
.
“I could not sleep last night — I was so nervous!” she said towards the end of our meeting. “I wanted to sleep but couldn’t. This is my first interview, so I woke up at 7am to arrange and make sure everything was ready!”And she was more than ready.
.
She’s talkative, bubbly and 10 minutes into the interview she was coaxing me into revealing my own passion — gift wrapping.
.
In case you’re wondering how she got so media-savvy, she did public relations and training for cosmetics house Estee Lauder. She is also a perfectionist, the personification of the dictum “everything worth doing is worth doing well”.
.
Career-wise, she now puts her heart, soul, attention and money into Sze Accessories, her online store. She doesn’t duplicate her pieces, she wants them to be special so her customers don’t bump into each other and find out they are wearing the same things.
.
Once at a wedding, she saw a gorgeous woman in a beautiful dress. But someone else was wearing exactly the same outfit so the woman changed into another dress which she had kept in her car.
.
“She didn’t look that great, but she didn’t care. She just didn’t want to look like another woman! I think we all want to look different. We possess our own style. Accessories are a way of showing that individuality.”
.
After saving half her salary for more than two years, she quit her job at Estee Lauder six months ago and started buying beads which she then made into colourful bracelets, keychains, necklaces and earrings. Early this month, she launched her online store, szeaccessories.com with four different ranges of accessories.
.
She has been making accessories since she was a girl. While studying mass communications in Perth, Australia, she made accessories for herself and her friends. It was a passion. Some of her friends sell cakes and bodycare products online, so she thought, why not accessories?
.
“There’s something about making accessories that I find very therapeutic. The light, the colours, it is all very calming. But I know that when I feel down, I cannot bead. I’ll be sitting around for hours and nothing will come out right.”
.
Her collection can best be described as girly; a charming mix of charms that will make you feel like a girl playing dress-up. Her cameo charm spells vintage, the elephant pendant is adorable and her fashionista necklace is adorned with miniature handbags, tunics, Mary Janes, hearts and a key. Very cute.
.
She gets inspiration from nature. She calls it her perfect colour chart because “everything matches well”.
.
I ask her if she feels that accessories-making is a fall back career choice considering that many are venturing down the same road.
.
“The accessories market is very saturated, what with many people venturing into the same business. People come to me and say they can buy three pairs of earrings for RM10, why should they buy mine? Yet I also have repeat customers who buy because I don’t duplicate.”
.
She tells prospective customers that her pieces are handmade, they are sourced from her travels — from the United Kingdom to Malaysia — and she doesn’t mass-produce. She admits that while she finds making accessories fun, it’s not necessarily easy.
.
“I taught my best friend how to make her own accessories and she ended up telling me that it’s tedious so she would rather fork out money and buy them from me!”
.
The petite 25-year-old lives with her parents (“You can save a lot, you know”). Giving up paid employment was a leap into the unknown. Gone are paydays, medical benefits and Employee Provident Fund.
.
“But life is so short... my uncle told me I should do it so I don’t have any hang-ups later. I have always wanted to open my own business. And I thought if this doesn’t work out, I could always go back to work.”
.
Quitting her job, she says, taught her money is hard to come by, something employees take for granted. “Now, I skip RM15 Starbucks coffee for a kopitiam brew, and I don’t shop so much, I wait for a sale. It’s a change of lifestyle, essentially.
.
“Working on your own isn’t easy. I put in eight hours daily, at least, these days. When you are an employee you can leave work at the office and work on it tomorrow. If it’s your own business, you either make or break. You become more responsible.”
.
Yet she enjoys every minute of it. She receives three to four orders daily, not bad for a website that has been online for less than a month. The finished products are stored in tiny bags and neatly arranged in her drawer.
.
Each piece of Sze Yoong’s jewellery (except earrings, for obvious reasons) carries a little heart-shaped mini-pendant, scribbled “Made With Love” in what looks like a kid’s handwriting.
.
It’s part of her signature, she says. But I think it’s more than just an emblem. It’s the promise of an accessory well-made. With love.
.
Sze Accessories is on-line at www.szeaccessories.com. For more information, e-mail szeyoong@szeaccessories.com.
On Sze Yoong’s work table:
1. Louis Vuitton organiser in Daumier check:“It’s my diary. I keep all my schedules in this faithful organiser which I received from my parents at Christmas. It doesn’t fray or fade. It looks the exactly the same as when I first received it four years ago.”
.
2. Montblanc rollerball pen, engraved with her name:“This was my parents’ graduation gift to me. It’s almost cliched, getting a pen for your graduation... but I love it. My ink colour? Black, definitely.”
.
3. Confessions of an Heiress by Paris Hilton:“She may be portrayed as ditsy, but somehow I think she’s a smart person. I mean, she sings, acts, has her own clothing line and fragrance — an airhead won’t be able to do all that!”
.
4. Daily Candy A-Z: An Inside Guide to the Sweet Life:“This is my personal style guide, with pretty illustrations to boot.”
.
5. Precious Moments Bible“I like art, and Precious Moments has cute drawings of the boy and girl and I adore that.”
.
6. iPod Nano 4G in fuschia:“My iPod playlist consists of modern Christian songs. They are religious, but they are also pleasant to the ear.”
© Copyright 2007 The New Straits Times Press (M) Berhad. All rights reserved.
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