Cover How Ethel Neo’s jewellery empire was born by accident
How Ethel Neo’s jewellery empire was born by accident
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While Eclat by Oui’s founder Ethel Neo was never a “jewellery kind of girl” she found herself in the jewellery making industry after almost losing her engagement ring
Have you ever thought you had lost something precious? Founder of local jewellery brand Eclat by Oui Ethel Neo has and it’s a feeling she never wants to experience again.
While on a trip to Hong Kong with her husband Peter Lau in 2017, Neo lost her five-figure diamond engagement ring. Although she found it eventually, Neo remembers it being a painful experience. “More than the monetary loss, it is the sentimental loss that is heartbreaking,” she shares, adding how no one should go through it.
After this experience, Neo began her search for a travel ring—a luxurious yet “guilt-free” ring alternative that can be worn in place of sentimental pieces. As travel rings were not popular back then, she couldn’t find one she felt connected to and decided to create one herself. When her friends noticed her replica ring and how close it resembled the actual piece, they too wanted one. Neo realised that others might also have similar fears of losing sentimental pieces while travelling and decided to set up a website and began selling these rings online.
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Above Neo and her husband Peter Lau
Neo and her husband Peter Lau
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Founded in 2017, the brand launched with 12 diamond-simulated pieces. Created in Hong Kong—by the same craftsman Neo used while creating her ring—these pieces are made from cubic zirconia, a diamond alternative that closely resembles natural diamonds. Ranking 8.5 on the Mohs hardness scale, its diamond simulants are comparable to the hardness of a natural Ruby or Sapphire gemstone. Neo shares how demand has been encouraging since the brand launched and decided to open a pop-up store in 313@Somerset in 2019, with the pop-up turning into a permanent store in 2022.
Neo never intended to be in the jewellery industry, admitting that she was “never a jewellery kind of girl”, nor did she intend to follow her local filmmaker father Jack Neo’s footsteps. Rather, she caught the entrepreneurial bug early in her life. “I was always interested in the idea of creating value for people by solving problems,” she says. So it’s no surprise when she started her first business venture at 17.
Life lessons
Prior to Eclat by Oui, Neo had multiple ventures and while they had not been successful, she took away multiple life lessons—many of which have helped her grow her brand to what it is today.
Neo began her entrepreneurial journey selling stick-on bras at 17. She quickly learnt that many other blog shops were offering the same item. Lacking product differentiation, she realised she could only compete with these other brands on price. “It’s the worst thing you can do in a business,” she adds.
Learning from her first venture, she started a clothes blog shop at 21 while studying at the University of Melbourne. “Blogshops were all the rage in Singapore but I noticed that there wasn’t a blog shop culture in Melbourne,” she explained and had bought wholesale pieces from Geylang to sell them in Australia. However, she didn’t take into account the varying sizes and tastes across markets. “Fashion in Singapore and Australia was and still is very different,” she says, adding how she had to clear stock at a huge discount at Melbourne’s Camberwell Sunday Market.
Her last venture before Eclat by Oui saw her design, manufacture and sell evening and wedding gowns for brides and bridesmaids. Unfortunately, Neo shared how she couldn’t keep up with the inventory-heavy job alongside her full-time role as a teacher at a tuition centre.
Even after creating Eclat by Oui, Neo’s entrepreneurial spirit still burns as strong as ever. Shortly after the jewellery brand, she started Chu Collagen with her husband, selling quality chicken collagen soup.
There will always be shortcomings when it comes to starting a venture. For Neo, she sees them as a way to improve and learn. “If all else fails, hire or work with people who are strong at what I am weak in,” she says.
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Precious pieces
Neo’s success at Eclat by Oui doesn’t come with shortcomings either. She shares how demand for travel jewellery had dropped during the pandemic. But, she also saw an increase in demand for earrings. “People still had to look good on Zoom,” she says. Thus, she learnt to pivot the brand to focus more on earrings and being more flexible to the needs of her customers.
Looking back, Neo’s journey was full of ups and downs. One of her greatest accomplishments was in 2022 when she was assisting two ladies in her store when she learnt that one of the ladies wanted to get “something special from us to mark the occasion” of her friend’s last chemotherapy session.
Reminiscing, she shares how she was impacted by this, realising how her customers have begun purchasing their pieces not just as replacements for their sentimental pieces but also to mark significant milestones in their lives. “This speaks volumes of what our customers think of the quality and longevity of our jewellery,” she explains.
Family time
Running a jewellery empire takes work and time—something that Neo has learnt to balance over the years, especially since having her two sons Austin and Flynn. She has learnt to practice time blocking to achieve a better work-life balance. “When I’m with my kids, I make sure I’m physically and mentally present. My phone isn’t with me and I love to listen to them talk about their day,” she says, adding that she stops work at 7 pm to spend time with her kids before their bedtime.
As a self-proclaimed workaholic, she mentions how it took “deliberate effort” to stop work as she learnt the value of having quality time with her family. “If I can’t finish my work by 7 pm, I’ll continue after the kids are asleep,” she continues.
During busy periods, Neo explains how she would take a short family vacation before the brand’s peak period and take a two-week vacation after the period ends. “My kids now know that I need to work harder at certain periods of the year and I will be busier than usual… [but we remind] them that it is only temporary,” she shares.
Bolder creations
On top of travel rings, the brand has expanded in creations, offering over 200 different products ranging from earrings to bracelets. Eclat by Oui has also begun moving towards creating bolder and versatile pieces. For example, one of its latest drops, the Detachable Cloud Link Earrings is a statement piece that allows you to wear it in two different ways. Looking ahead, Neo shares how the brand will start offering lab-grown diamond options for their pieces in the second half of the year.
With Neo’s strong entrepreneurial spirit, we’re sure to see more of Neo and her creations in the upcoming years.
Amanda Goh was the former senior writer for Tatler Singapore.
