Designer's Musings:
We are featured on Sin Chew Penang, April 2024

Have you ever come across a brand where you are proud to say you bought something from them? We hope to be the brand.

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Fuchsia Lane hopes to touch people’s hearts in the things we create. Our vision is to revive cultural legacies with modern fashion and living as well as to promote collaborations between creatives.  

 

The explosion of brands coupled with expensive or mass advertising has sometimes blinded people to chase after the next big thing or brand. But here at Fuchsia Lane, we prefer to do our own thing, to perfect the craft, to get into the heart of something that inspires us, to have heart warming conversations with our team, the artisans, the culture lovers and our customers.

 

We have always championed beautiful legacies from Peranakan embroideries to Chinese Opera. I believe the way to preserve them is to bring a part of it to our day to day living- which explains what we do and design. Born in Singapore with Penang origins, I am also proud to be a Chinese of Nanyang descent and I hope people can come to appreciate the richness of Nanyang cultures in my designs.

 

We are unable to fight with the unbelievable low pricing of certain brands because in this eco-system, something's got to give when the price tag is low and that means we shudder to think where and how the items are being produced.

 

Every cent of our price tag goes into paying our artisans, the makers of what we use, the research that goes into the inspiration behind every collection, the young artisans we have to train for years, the cost of doing business, and the initiatives we strongly believe in.

 

This interview with the Sin Chew reporter came by chance. While being born and educated in Singapore, Penang was where my mum came from, and I have many beautiful childhood memories spending my holidays there in my grandparent’s eclectic mansion. In the recent years, I have been trying to work actively with Penang creatives as my idea of giving back. Penang is also one of the places where rich Peranakan artistry originated from which I so hope to preserve.

 

In March, I contacted Datin Pauline who together with Dato' Chuah are the founders of Equator College, one of the most established and oldest design schools in Penang. I applaud them for being pioneers of Art Education. As the Chinese saying goes 十年树木，百年树人, it takes a lifetime of dedication to cultivate talents.

 

I asked if I could share stories of my entrepreneur journey with their students and graduates so as to inspire the next generation of creatives. She readily agreed and so I did this sharing session of Creative Entrepreneurship with almost 50 students, alumnae and teachers there on 18 March 2024.

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Upon seeing my passion, Datin introduced me to Miss Tan, the journalist from Sin Chew Malaysia who covers the news on North Malaysia which Penang is part of. Datin told me not to have any expectations and just to connect.

 

We sat down for tea at Coffee Bean, and I poured out stories of why and how I started, my vision and what I hoped to achieve in Penang. I did not expect the article but was completely moved when Miss Tan featured me, wrote out my vision and what I shared with her so deeply. I have great respect for this journalist who is so warm and kind. Many times now, media coverage hinges on advertising spend which small labels like us are not able to afford, so I have great respect for journalists who push for stories with integrity and when they see a need to support a cause or be the voice.

 

Thank you Sinchew Malaysia, Miss Tan, Datin Pauline, Lee Khai and those who have supported us in one way or another.

 

Please read here for the online article https://northern.sinchew.com.my/news/20240409/northern/5520780