Back to the Roots (Part 1)

As we usher in the new year, it is always a good idea to stay grounded and be reminded of our roots - what inspired us and got us here in the first place.

From jewellery to sports equipment and delicious cuisines, we have taken the opportunity to spotlight our tenants at Mandarin Gallery and Downtown Gallery to share with us more about their brand journey – what kept them going and where they are today.

This January, we have Béjwl, who shares the story behind their handcrafted jewelry family business, The Big Country shares their love and passion on all-things outdoor sports-related and lastly, with 20 awards under their belt, Peace Japanese Cuisine shares exciting new plans to keep a look out for.

Q1: Share with us your brand’s history, and what was the inspiration behind it?

Photo from Béjwl: Béjwl’s shop interior
Béjwl is located at Mandarin Gallery, at #03-31

Béjwl – Tiffany, Brand Director and Jewellery Designer:
It all began in Hong Kong in the 1960s, when our grandfather discovered the trade and the art of jewellery making in its early years. Now in its third generation, Béjwl is a family business that continues to uphold its passion to create and provide utmost attention to details to ensure perfection in every single piece of our handcrafted jewellery.

As a jewellery designer and brand director, my research and jewellery designs are guided by my strong belief of ‘design is culture, and culture is design’. From the creation of diamonds and gemstones right up to the finishing touches, each piece of our handcrafted jewellery represents a marriage of heritage and sophistication. Every Jewel has a soul, and the simple act of adorning each piece is in itself a way of keeping memories alive.

Photo from The Big Country: Sports equipment
The Big Country is located at Downtown Gallery at #01-41

The Big Country:
Back in 2004 to 2005, we decided to bring in the now-defunct brand ‘WildRoses for Women by Women’ - an Italian line of trek & active travel wear for women. We then transformed the brand into what we have today as ‘The Big Country’, where we commit ourselves to bring in equipment from quality European brands for travel-related sports such as trekking, active travel, skiing, biking, diving, and water sports.

Peace Japanese Cuisine is located at Downtown Gallery at #03-20

Peace Japanese Cuisine:
Peace Japanese Cuisine started in 2017 with the vision to bring peace, love and joy to our customers, through high quality food at affordable pricing and excellent customer service.

Q2: What was your mission at the start of your brand?

Photo from Béjwl: Sapphire jewel and a design sketch

Béjwl – Tiffany, Brand Director and Jewellery Designer:
My mission at Béjwl is to transform my passion for fine jewellery into inspiration for my creations. For every piece of my bespoke jewellery, I seek for it to speak deeply to my customers, where each design reflects the philosophy of an unparalleled lifestyle and the individuality of my customers.

The Big Country:
Many years ago, as a female avid trekker, it was very difficult to find attractive looking outdoor wear, much less for women. Motivated by this, we decided to start our own brand where we seek to bring in high quality travel sports equipment suitable for women, that is both attractive and practical.

Peace Japanese Cuisine:
Peace Japanese Cuisine first started out in a humble industrial estate, with big aspirations. As food lovers who love to travel all around the region hunting for good food, we held steadfast to our belief that as long as we can provide high quality food and customer service that is memorable to our customers, we can earn their trust and recommendation, and eventually expand our customer pool by word of mouth.

Q3: How has the brand’s journey been like?

Photo from Béjwl: Blue Sapphire Diamond Ring, Emerald Diamond Bangle

Béjwl – Tiffany, Brand Director and Jewellery Designer:
Our store has been truly blessed. It’s been a wonderful journey for me as the 3rd generation running this family business for the past 17 years, from when we first started. Over the years, Béjwl has been blessed with opportunities to work with exclusive client portfolio, including an extensive array of private collectors, industry experts, celebrities and high profile socialites from all around the world who seek highly desirable jewellery that is unique yet unpretentious.

Even after so many years, I’m still learning new things every day. For instance, one of the challenges that I’ve faced is serving international customers who can only speak their native language. I actually use Google Translate to help me communicate with these customers, and I’m always so appreciative of them for being so patient as I attempt to speak in these languages, or use illustrations to present my ideas when I’m proposing my jewellery collections to them. I look forward to learning even more each day!

Photo from The Big Country: Sports equipment

The Big Country:
The Big Country is run by a full women’s team, and this has definitely brought its fair share of detractors and misogynistic views from the public, especially since our products revolve around travel sports, including extreme sports.

The usual skepticism that we face more often than not is regarding whether we really do have the expertise knowledge in all of these outdoor sports. We actually do, and if on the chance that we encounter one that we’re not familiar with, we invest our time in very thorough product training. We don’t guess, we don’t give estimations; outdoor sports can be very dangerous, and hence it’s important for us to only offer facts. Driven by this mindset, we’ve persevered through all the odds stacked against us and charted our own way forward to where we are now!

Peace Japanese Cuisine:
It has not been an easy journey, but definitely an exciting one. Within 6 months of our restaurant’s opening, we won 4 awards. When we subsequently opened our doors at Downtown Gallery, we already had 12 awards, and by the end of 2021, we have a total of 20 awards under our belt, including The People's Choice by Restaurant Association of Singapore and Top 5 F&B Award by Red Dragon. We were also the First Winner of Singapore Food Master by SPH.

Fun fact – our owner-chef Simon Ng has also appeared on the national broadcast TV, on Channel 8’s Sheng Siong Show where he shared some of his own recipes!

Q4: What exciting plans do you have in store for our shoppers in 2022?

Béjwl – Tiffany, Brand Director and Jewellery Designer:
We’ve actually just started an online platform for Béjwl, and hence we are now able to accept orders by email or even phone calls. These online orders come with free delivery and hassle-free secure payment mode. This year, we hope to leverage our online platform to reach out to new customers, and share our passion for fine jewellery with individuals from all walks of life.

The Big Country:
We’re currently looking to expand the range of 3 Italian bicycle wear brands that we have, so cycling enthusiasts, do look out for that! For water sports, our Aztron range is also expanding to include the ultra-light iSUP Compact series which is extremely portable, along with a whole new range of SurfSkates. Not forgetting the fast-growing sport of Boxing and Muay Thai – we will be upgrading our Twins range to be even more comprehensive!

Peace Japanese Cuisine:
Many of our customers have been requesting to buy our special sauces home, and we’ve heard them! This year, we will be manufacturing our special chili garlic sauce, which will be available for purchase in our restaurant.

Frozen food is next on our to-do list, as we wish to provide an option for our customers to purchase our dishes and eat it whenever they want to. We’ve spent more than half a year of research and development on this, and we hope to be able to bring this idea to life soon!

Stay tune to the next series where we spotlight more tenants from Mandarin Gallery and Downtown Gallery!