Bynd Artisan co-founder and CEO Winnie Chan leveraged on a burgeoning interest in homegrown design to position her business, which she co‑founded with her husband, James, who makes a “handy” cameo
While most parents remind their children not to overindulge in the world of all things fashionable and covetable, Winnie Chan is the direct opposite. Like many youngsters today, her son Josh likes collecting rare sneakers. But instead of ticking him off, the founder and CEO of Bynd Artisan, which customises paper and leather goods, poses him a question: “In the future, how you do create a huge demand for the next limited-edition sneakers or product?”
Clearly, Winnie’s approach to parenting is anything but conventional. But this unorthodox way of tackling issues and challenges in life has been an asset, especially when it comes to her business, which she set up with her husband, James Quan, in 2014.
“We wanted to build a brand of our own instead of being dictated by wholesale and OEM (original equipment manufacturer) customers in my family business,” says Winnie, who had previously worked for her family’s bookbinding and stationery firm, Grandluxe, for 22 years. The couple first launched Bynd Artisan with an atelier in Boon Lay in 2014, before being invited to set up a corner in Tangs at Tang Plaza later that same year. The business has since flourished to include a flagship atelier in Holland Village, standalone retail stores in shopping malls such as Ion Orchard, Takashimaya and Raffles City, a shop-in-shop outlet in multi-label fashion boutique Pedder on Scotts and a store in a luxury shopping mall in Shanghai.
“What we have done with Bynd Artisan is to apply business innovation to an old-school product and seemingly sunset industry. It resulted in us opening our atelier, an experiential space that differentiates us from other retail offerings and piques one’s curiosity to step inside,” she says, adding that this different approach has given the group of old but highly experienced craftsmen from her family business a second wind. It has also given Bynd Artisan an edge over other similar brands in the market. “It has allowed us to make use of our craftsmen’s existing skill sets on a different platform and essentially reinvent and value-add the good old notebook together with other leather goods.”