eClarity X CNA 938, Double X Files – An in-depth conversation on Labgrown Diamonds (English)

by eClarity | May 25, 2022 | Uncategorized

Yasmin: Ahh the lovely voice of Marilyn Monroe, whose dress by the way, has just been worn by Kim Kardashian at the Met Gala. Well, here she is, singing about diamonds and I remember Madonna, did a whole remake of her music video from the scene from the movie, the song Material Girl. Are certain diamonds better friends than other? We are inspired to dive into this topic. Because there’s been an article at CNA.asia “Are labgrown diamonds the real thing or are they fake and valueless?” We ask the experts, to weigh in, you can read about that in CNA Lifestyle.asia. Here, on CNA938, we bring back a great guest, who knows all about this, Amanda Koo, the founder of eClarity, a jeweller in Singapore. She is our expert today! Hi Amanda, welcome back to the show!

Amanda: Hello Yasmin!

Yasmin: Nice talking with you again! So, quality and value of labgrown diamonds matches the real thing?

Amanda: Before we go into the definition of value and how it correlates to expression of love, the price of labgrown diamond is about one-third to half of that of natural diamond. In terms of quality, labgrown diamonds and natural diamonds have the same chemical and physical properties, and optical property.

Yasmin: I see, and hence their popularity driven of course by the younger generation, who are very concerned about the environment.

Amanda: Exactly! So, the people all from the younger generation, say the young couple who are coming in for their engagement ring, and they are in their 20s, so we have girls and guys coming in and say they have no problems with the budget, they have high budget but they eco-concerned, so they choose labgrown diamonds instead of natural diamonds for their engagement ring. Now beyond that, there is also another favourite topic, favourite concern from this younger generation, which is the fact that labgrown diamonds have more transparent supply chain, and so they can then ensure that these are not conflict diamonds, which is a concern that we had during our times, if you remember the movie “Blood Diamonds” and how the children were exploited to mine diamonds, so the process has become something that the younger generation who choose labgrown diamonds don’t have to worry about.

Yasmin: Ok, but why do people’s journey remain snooty when it comes to labgrown diamonds? We sniff at them.

Amanda: I think the first most popular misconception is people come in and they use the word “fake” to describe labgrown diamonds. So, I always use the term “synthetic diamonds” “simulant diamonds”, I teach my couples and my customers the differences. Now when we talk about synthetic diamonds, labgrown diamonds they are real diamonds, they are grown in a lab with high temperature high pressure which is similar to those that are grown under the world. And the properties are the same, so those are synthetic diamonds.

When we talk about fake diamonds, we are talking about simulant diamonds, which are like CZ (Cubic Zirconia), the GGG, the moissanite, the glass or plastics. So, these are fake diamonds. So this is one misconception that we can clarify, people tend to think that since you’re growing the labgrown diamonds, can you then control the quality? Can we all get flawless, D color, triple excellence diamonds very easily? The answer is No. The growth environment while is in a lab, but it is not  within human control because we have all the microscopic minerals in the world, and when we grow the diamonds these minerals will be entrapped inside the diamonds and these becomes our inclusions, which affect the clarity grading.

Yasmin: So, this tells you if the crowds are getting younger and younger, and a lot more educated, about the environment, not just about well read in general, just for themselves, then labgrown diamonds will have a great future here in Singapore?

Amanda: It’s an unknown, but looking at the trend for this year, it has been growing ever since, and I started noticing very closely that 2019, that it has been growing all the time.

Yasmin: Are there any disadvantages of labgrown diamonds Amanda?

Amanda: One thing I could think of is, currently GIA report, the biggest grading lab, they are not issuing physical report for labgrown diamonds, only digital report, so people are not very used to that, that’s first. Second, you know all the misconception that we have, that could be a disadvantage for labgrown diamonds as well, thirdly of course the value is still unknown, so these are the few things that are the disadvantages for labgrown diamonds.

Yasmin: Fantastic! Well Thank you for giving us some education on this at least, we have a deeper study at CNA Lifestyle.asia read the article there guys. Thanks Amanda!

Amanda: Thank you Yasmin

Yasmin: Founder of eClarity, they are a jeweller in Singapore.

A Girl’s Best Friend: How eClarity Started From Scratch to Shining Bright – Interview with Singapore Business Review

by eClarity | May 25, 2022 | Uncategorized

Sass: You’re watching Singapore Business Review. Joining us today is Amanda Koo, founder of eClarity, one of Singapore’s Largest Online Diamond Jewellers. Welcome Amanda.

Amanda: Hi Sass, very good morning to you, and thank you for the introduction. Yes, my name is Amanda, and I’m happy to be here.

Sass: So Amanda, tell us about eClarity, what pain points are you trying to address in the industry?

Amanda: Yeah, so I founded eClarity, bespoke diamond specialist about 17 years ago. And I remember till today the mission is still the same. I want Singaporean to be wearing something different. Jewellery sometimes can get a little boring in Singapore, people just buy bigger and bigger diamond. You get a 1 carat, I get a 1.5 carat, and someone else want a 2 carat. So, beyond the size, we’re looking into surprising Singaporeans with not just the size, but we go into bespoke design. So, the design that you wear, you will find no one else wearing the same design. We are also looking at pink diamonds, black diamonds, yellow diamonds. We are also looking at different shapes, fancy shapes, not all diamonds are round, so it can be marquise, can be cushion, can be square. So, from different aspects, right? We just want to surprise Singaporeans with the options, possibilities, and capacity that diamonds can bring to them.

Sass: Now what gave you the idea of creating a rental subscription business model for jewellery?

Amanda: Thank you for asking that, Sass. It is awesome and the whole team is so happy and hopeful that this new rental subscription model that we have launched, which is called The Sample Line. The Sample Line is now available to be downloaded on Google Play, or App Store. You see, traditionally, for rental, typically you rent that one piece, or the two pieces, for your wedding, your biggest birthday party and it’s typically expensive. So, what we want to do, it just dawned upon me, from two angles. Like people rent bags, people rent clothes, but what about renting jewellery? You know, I have the excess capacity, being a designer’s house, eClarity, for the past 17 years, we have more than a thousand pieces of master sample line, which is that one piece that we design, we don’t sell them typically, we keep them in our database, just so that we have the masterpiece. So, in order to not waste excess capacity, we have decided to share this with the entire Singapore. You see, the thing is, how many pieces of earrings can someone own? For example, let’s say if you spend $5,000 on a pair of earrings, on a yearly basis, you only get that one. But now, our mission, The Sample Line, is going to allow Singaporean, say you pay $690 for a yearly subscription, you get $10,000 worth of jewellery multiply by 12, because you can rent a piece of jewellery every month and the whole wardrobe of eClarity is yours. So, we’re sharing that availability to Singaporeans. And this is to support sustainability, to support sharing economy, to reduce excess capacity. So, I think in the end Singaporeans get to be more fashionable, more statement pieces on their faces, and I hope Singaporeans become happier with this service that is available to them.

Sass: Speaking of databases, as the owner of Singapore’s first Realtime diamond database, can you describe the process in implementing this?

Amanda: So, the story has to start 17 years ago, so I was a graduate from NUS, in Computer Science, so I’m a very geeky person. I also have a gemological graduate diploma from GIA. So, my plan was to integrate this two knowledge: embracing technology and also gemology into one. And the best thing to do is to provide a realtime diamond database, to Singaporeans, and actually to the world. Now as one company, there’s a limit of how many diamonds I can have but if I consolidate the diamonds from all over the world, and I have the technical capacity to make it real-time, so example if I collaborate with someone, a big supplier from Hong Kong, another one from Israel, another one from New York, and me in Singapore, and we put all our diamonds on one database, and if I sell 5 pieces, 10 pieces today, I take it off from the system immediately and it get updated from the system. Now the whole world gets to have multiplied of option. So, what I did, it was firstly of course to get a trustworthy technical team, to build the FTP, to build the API, so that all these can be seamlessly integrated. Of course, the source of the diamond becomes important because we only work with site holders, so people who are recognised in the industry, with many years, generations of experience in the industry. And then we have to make sure that everyone has that responsibility to tick off a diamond whenever a diamond is sold, so that there’s no disappointment to their end user. So, we put all these together, the technical part, the human part, and then the UI part, and then we published to eClarity.com.sg. Now in fact, in recent three years, in November 2019, eClarity has spinoff a new labgrown brand, which is called BA.sg, offers more than 5000 pieces of labgrown diamonds, we are doing it the same manner, it is very well received. All labgrown diamonds are IGI Certified, and it’s also real-time.

Sass: So now that most industries are actually pushing more towards a more digital environment, how do you see the jewellery industry continuing it digital journey? What would it be like in the future?

Amanda: I think digitalisation is such a popular word these days, right? I think when we talked about digital journey, we talked about the sales platform, the marketing platform, and beyond that is also and education platform. So you want to sell something digitally, you want to things like what I said, like real-time diamond database. Beyond that, a marketing platform, where you do your videos, you do all your social media, you market yourself well on your TikTok, your Youtube, whatever new platform that you have. And then we are doing education platform too, so every week, we push out new content in webinars where it allows Singaporeans to sign up, to attend webinars host by gemologist, so sometimes I host it, sometimes it’s a replay. So we talk about different topics, like how to identify diamonds, labgrown diamonds, and how do you customise bespoke wedding bands, so these are what’s already available, so moving forward, digitalisation, it has to be something that is mind-blowing. What is mind-blowing to me at this moment, will be things like, AI. So, AI Grading. All along diamond grading has been done by gemologist, 5 gemologists decide on one diamond. If three thinks it’s a D colour, two thinks it’s a E colour, the report would be printed as D. Moving forward, digitalisation we should look at AI, AI where you collect a good sample database and your grading is based on data, based on algorithm. Now beyond that, AI could also go into customer service, right, so that is one part. Now the other part, that is interesting is NFT, we know everyone heard of NFT, and how NFT is on art, and you know every masterpiece of jewellery, let’s say engagement ring, that I customised for you, is unique to you. Because at eClarity, every piece is handmade and created for the couple. Now these items can be taken photo, and then be available as an NFT.

Sass: Given the discussion about digitalisation, in your opinion, would brick-and-mortar store still be essential in the future?

Amanda: I think how online and offline, we are going in between. How we buy online, and then we buy offline, it is true that people today, especially post-covid, we are so much more comfortable online. Brick-and-mortar store are getting less and less important. Before covid, it was not easy to convince someone, in the UK, to buy something from eClarity or BA, for example. But during covid, we become so comfortable, you know everyone is ordering food, everyone is ordering grocery, and everyone is ordering computer, and all that online. We also see that the trend is that people are more comfortable to attend webinar and buy diamonds online. That’s exactly what happened between 2020 and 2021 and continue on to 2022. Now with the market open, people are coming back to the store, people are scheduling an appointment now, say “Can I look at the diamonds?” Now the thing is there’s always two groups of people, sometimes these two groups of people they are very fluid, they migrate between online and offline. As a business owner, is important to find that sweet spot, that is right for your business model, that is right for your client base. Do you want to do 70% online, 30% offline, brick-and-mortar, or the other way round? Are you the one that does 50-50? So, I think that brick-and-mortar will never be totally gone, because people still liked the personalisation, but it could go down to 90-10. That’s my thought, and eClarity and BA.sg and together with The Sample Line. Because for The Sample Line you can just order from app, and the item will be delivered to your doorstep. And every month you get to have a new pair of earrings. So, that’s also fully online, you don’t have to come down to choose the earrings that is for rental.

Sass: So, Amanda, what is your vision for the company in the next 5 years? How do you plan to stay ahead of the competition, should there be any in the future?

Amanda: Continue to revolutionise. So, I’ve been in the business for 17 years, I am always telling myself that we need to do ground-breaking ideas every few years. It’s almost like a stop kind of thing, every 5 to 7 years, something new will come out. This is unavoidable. So, you need to be a trendsetter, trendwatcher, trend leader, continue to revolutionise, sometimes it could be the product that is different, sometimes it could be a marketing platform, sometimes it could be a purchasing platform, but the world keep changing. To stay ahead of competition, we have to continue to change. We will need to tweak, don’t over tweak. Be very determined, but don’t be over persistent if one idea doesn’t work, fine tune it. Always exercise an idea at the right time. I give the example, I’ ve been watching labgrown diamonds for 17 years, but the right time, was year 2019, when you launched the right product, market it in the right platform, at the right time, that’s when you can stay ahead, and that is continuously the vision of eClarity. The vision of eClarity, BA.sg has never changed, it was always to empower love, empower happiness, and through science, we educate and inform science, through art, and through love.

Sass: We’re going to wrap up today, Amanda, is there anything else you like to add? Or perhaps maybe where can we get more information about eClarity?

Amanda: Please visit our website, our website is eClarity.com.sg and specialise in bespoke jewellery customisation, you can schedule an appointment if you’d like to see me. You can just drop a WhatsApp, our customer service number 9833 1220. We welcome WhatsApp, you can just say that you like to meet Amanda in person and our customer service will arrange a time for you. Now the second brand BA.sg is specialised in labgrown diamond, and we have webinars conducting every week. Subscribe to the webinar, you will see me talking to you how to identify and differentiate natural diamond and labgrown diamond. Last but not least, The Sample Line is truly empowering, so I am a subscriber myself, I become so exciting as a person, I actually get different pairs of earrings, different pendant, different bracelet every month, it can match my clothes. So please go to App Store and Play Store, download The Sample Line, then just browse around. If you like anything we’ll deliver to your door. And Singaporeans, be unique, be special, be fashionable, and believe in yourself, and I am doing my part, to empower happiness to you. If you need help in anyway about jewellery, I’m here for you to speak with you.

Sass: Thank you for your time, Amanda, we look forward to visit your website as well.

Amanda: Thank you Sass, I look forward having you at my store too.

MoneyFM 89.3 The Breakfast Hurdle Live Interview – An Interview with eClarity Director, Amanda Koo

by eClarity | May 25, 2022 | Uncategorized

Elliott: MoneyFM89.3 It’s The Breakfast Hurdle with Elliot Danker & Ryan Huang. Let’s take a break talking about the money problem of the world and talk about jewellery. You’re going to love this one! RENTAL SUBSCRIPTION, I don’t know what your experiences with regard to this are, but did you know this pre-COVID-19, a lot of people were renting clothes to go to work. Different set of dresses everyday and I even question, “Why not more for the men?”. It was a business that was booming, a lot of people paying monthly subscription and fees so the clothes could be delivered to them for a month, and then we have COVID-19. And such services obviously started to spiral down. Now, people are going back to work. So, you would expect that it would get some traction again. And maybe thinking of such services to apply to clothes, shoes, maybe even bags. But what if I told you could rent jewellery as well. Hmm. Fine jewellery I bet. So, our next guest, eClarity is doing just that. The company’s subsidiary brand, The Sample Line, is Singapore’s First Jewellery Rental Subscription Service, offering close to thousands of jewellery designs for rent! We’re going to find out more about this rental subscription business model and the journey that our next guest made with regards to eClarity, Amanda Koo founded eClarity is on the line! Amanda good morning, how are you?

Amanda: Good morning, Elliott! Wow! Thank you for sharing, and we have something for the guys too!

Elliott: Wow you got my attention! Let’s talk a little bit about eClarity first. I understand that it was founded back in 2005, one of the region’s most promising online and instore diamond jeweller. Tell us a little bit about the business and how it evolved.

Amanda: So, I started after working for corporate, for 4 years. I was a St Nicks girls, went to ACJC, graduated from NUS Computer Science, and I worked for 4 years. Then I started the first online diamond database for eClarity in 2005. We integrated, eClarity became the first diamond database that is live, and people get to buy more than 20,000 diamonds online. So, 17 years later, we just have so many designs, we have the masterpiece, and we have decided to, you know with the sharing economy booming, we decided to reduce the excess capacity, and empowering beauty and fashion and therefore The Sample Line, for all Singaporeans.

Elliott: You mentioned St Nicks I know already. The ladies there all have good taste. Hahaha.

Amanda: I totally agree with you haha.

Elliott: Ok, so you won the award for Young Entrepreneur Award back in 2013 for simplifying the wedding band customisation process, making it accessible to Singaporeans. You know, I am a person of jewel myself. In the jewellery business, it is very difficult. I mean, do you come from a family of jewellers by any chance?

Amanda: Well, this is a very interesting question, and I try to answer that very cautiously. So, I grow up in a goldsmith shop. So, I took nap beside jewellery counters, when I was too noisy, I was made to count the gemstone box over and over again. And I would just like to share that I did not inherit the business I did not carry on there. But I was so familiar with the setting, it gives me the confidence, and the familiarity. And of course, you know, I went to sharing sessions of family dinners, so that was the formative years for eClarity.

Elliott: Did you decide there and there that, “Ok I’m going to pursue a career, maybe go study about gems, gemology”, or did you go to the corporate route and then come back?

Amanda: Yeah, not at all, I did not plan out that way. This is a story for another day, but I went through kidnap, went through robbery when I was young. You know, you kind of want to prevent yourself from the industry that your family has been going through challenges and all that. So yeah, with my Computer Science degree, the natural way is to go to coding, project management, which I did. Faithfully, wholeheartedly for 4 years. But you know I think it’s part of the DNA that I was always doing some form of businesses on the side, imported things from Japan, imported honey from Australia, and eventually I went back to diamonds and eClarity, which is a very familiar route to me.

Elliott: So, you started a business called Wah Chan? This Wah Chan Consolidated, is a tribute to your grandparents, right?

Amanda: Yeah! That it was a very heart-warming, sweet, a little naïve as well because my grandfather’s name is Wah, and my grandmother’s name is Chan. They put their name together and started a goldsmith shop. It was actually just half a shop; they rented the other half to someone else to collect rent. And my father carried that name and started goldsmith business, and I thought to carry on the heritage just so that I could feel family members are supporting me. I grew up alone since I was 13. I was born in Malaysia and when I was 13, I was sent to Singapore alone. It just gave me lots of support and love just using the same name.

Elliott: I get the sense that challenges are nothing new to you. And I was also told that you raised new-borns while also establishing your business and you would meet buyers in a fast-food outlet, you carried your sons along, what was that like for you?

Amanda: I loved sharing the story, if there’s any mothers or fathers listening, I love to share that. When I first started eClarity, I was trying to cut down on my start-up capital, not something I agree with now, but that’s what I did. Instead of renting a shop, I sold online. You know how Singaporean when you sell online, they say, “Can I see it first?” You know, we’re talking about year 2005. So, I said “Ok I can meet you, I don’t have a shop, but I’ll meet you in McDonald’s. So, I was sort of permanently locating myself at Shaw Centre McDonald’s. Back then there was a McDonald’s there.

Elliott: Like the steps going down, right? Good old days.

Amanda: Yeah! Ok now I know your age.

Elliott: Alright, oh no…hahaha!

Amanda: And you know, I just basically sat there and met client after client. And the question is always, “Is that real?” Because, you know, imagine meeting a jeweller, at that step it will be the question you ask. So that was how it was for eClarity.

Elliott: People always have this mindset, right, especially if you don’t have a shop, or some kind of physical presence. They start to question whether the thing is authentic or not.

Amanda: Because you kind of need to go back, but now we have a good establishment at eClarity, we own that kind of confidence to give to people, they can come back for resizing, collect, or upgrading, so it’s a good continuation of business and customer service. I wasn’t able to give that during that time.

Elliott: People are also more, today I find, cultured, they try to search for a bit of knowledge online and how does that factor in with this rental subscription business model? I mean, how does it work?

Amanda: So yeah, people are more comfortable buying things online already, especially during COVID times. We conducted eClarity webinars, we conducted one-on-one ring consultations, we were confirming deals over webinars and Zoom. The good thing with Zoom is we can then grow across Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong. So that’s fantastic. Digitalisation now has a new meaning to it after COVID. Now, talking about the rental The Sample Line jewellery rental subscription, so after we launched at a good time, which is when it was still semi-inactive in terms of activity, last year around September/ October. Downtime is the best time for business development, and we did that. We created our first app, The Sample Line, we created our first Instagram account @TheSampleLine, Facebook account called The Sample Line. Now the market is ready, it’s opening, people like to, in the start we already have about 70 subscribers. When we started people were renting mostly earrings, when you Zoom with your boss, or subordinates, you will have new earrings every month.

Elliott: So, people are okay about that?

Amanda: People do. Yes. Surprising to you, surprising to us, we were happy, that people want to look good. People still want to, you know, dress up a little bit.

Elliott: So, what do people want now? So, it’s one thing to complain about going back to work right. I have noticed personally, when I go out on the streets, ladies are dressing up with even more effort, it’s 10 folds back again, guys are also starting to put a bit of an effort, they realised that. So, what are they renting?

Amanda: So, I think for everyone it’s “paying back time”, where they are bored two years. For two years, maybe we have been shopping online, watching shows and all that. So yes, the demand is a lot higher right now. The best thing people are renting, and the most popular items are exotic items that you will never buy. Example like typical thing that you would buy for your yourself or for your wife, I don’t know for you, maybe a 2-carat diamond right. Let’s say things like black diamond, like pink diamond, you probably wouldn’t buy it for your first piece. This are a bit of a matured item you probably wouldn’t buy it in your lifetime, but you can now rent it with The Sample Line.

Elliott: Not everyone is comfortable with like a pink diamond or a ruby, or an emerald, so it’s an opportunity to test whether if it looks good on your skin.

Amanda: Exactly, exactly. If you like it you can still buy it, but before that you can always test it out. You see that the younger generation they are not without the intention to buy it, they just want a new piece every month, to match with their shirt, for parties, for gatherings.

Elliott: What does it cost me though? To sign up for such services, such subscription.

Amanda: We The Sample Line are pricey because we are jewellery. You can rent up to $10,000 per month, so we are setting the price at $199. But for launch, we are just setting it at $99.

Elliott: The insurance aspect of this must be quite interesting for you.

Amanda: Yes. So, The Sample Line do have that right now. Customers could top up $35 to have it insured.

Elliott: Oh, wow that’s excellent! I want to talk a bit about the realtime diamond database that you created in 2005, could you tell me more about it?

Amanda: Yeap! So, you know how eClarity is being a startup that time, in year 2005. I couldn’t buy all the jewellery by myself. With my own capital. So, I work with 3 other companies, one from Hong Kong, one from Israel, one from New York. We consolidated our diamond data, if anyone sold any piece, they will update on the system, and show, as an end user, the diamonds that you saw, you can be sure that it is available. We have started this with eClarity since 2005 and it is still live right now.

Elliott: I see. This is a lot better than Carousell. What are your future plans? This sounds very interesting; this are going to take off a lot potentially and with the particular younger demographics. Where do you see it going?

Amanda: I believe in getting one target after another. So I am really focusing on The Sample Line right now, because I am a mother, and I see how my sons, very eco-friendly, when we are sharing an ice-cream they say “Mum, don’t take another plastic spoon, we want to save the world”. The thing about saving the world is a big thing, so we really want to reduce capacity by empowering fashion and beauty, so The Sample Line is really well received. Now on the other hand, things like labgrown diamonds, which is under the brand BA.sg, we have more than 5,000 pieces of certified labgrown diamonds, and a full livetime diamond database as well, for Singaporeans to choose and buy online.

Elliott: And labgrown diamond I believe is quite an interesting fact definitely worth watching out for. Amanda, final question, so I’m a guy, I want to come to you to rent jewellery, what is available for me?

Amanda: I have more than 500 rings for you, just rings alone eClarity has more than 500 designs, we also have cufflinks, that are diamond studded, in 18k gold, so we have too may things for you, even chains, pendants. In fact, The Sample Line’s youngest subscriber, is a 17 years old guy, he’s a TikTok gamer.

Elliott: Ah! My goodness! We are with Amanda Koo, founder of eClarity, BA.sg and The Sample Line. Really appreciate your time this morning, if you can stay safe, ya?

Amanda: Thank you! You too, Elliott.