The man whose Space furniture showroom in Millenia Walk has been selling drool-worthy designer items for the good- taste set for the past decade is in an expansive mood.

Space general manager Syddal Wee is happy to talk about how he came to be sitting pretty in the luxe furniture business. But he is also content to chat as Space itself is expanding.

When it opened in 2001, it was the largest high-end designer furniture showroom in Singapore. It has proven so successful that it has now run out of space and is moving into a 43,000 sq ft complex in Bencoolen Street that is twice the size of its former showroom.

To be opened officially on Nov 11, the new place, Space Asia Hub, is believed to be the largest standalone furniture showroom in Singapore.

'It was a natural expansion, and to grow the market, we had to cast our net wider,' says Mr Wee at the Bencoolen Street showroom last week.

The new premises have involved a $50-million outlay and combine contemporary with old, as the site includes two conservation buildings that are being renovated and a new building in between. Retrofitting for one conservation shophouse has been completed. Works are still ongoing at the other two blocks.

Speaking to Mr Wee, 60, one gets a peek into the hard-nosed world of retail and what it takes to persuade people to part with big bucks for fancy furniture. Think sleek B&B Italia sofas from $10,000 each or chic Kartell Louis Ghost chairs from $330 each.

Mr Wee notes that shoppers were initially horrified that a single piece of furniture could cost thousands of dollars. However, he adds with a chuckle: 'There is less of a shock now and we have not had to resuscitate anyone.'

Dressed in a long-sleeved shirt and black trousers for this interview, he has a disarmingly fatherly air about him, belying some serious business sense.

Space has posted growth of 20 to 25 per cent yearly, he points out proudly. This has been achieved in a competitive Singapore market in which close to a dozen names compete for a slice of the high- end furniture pie.

Space is owned by husband-and-wife team Gerry Harvey and Katie Page, who are also major shareholders of Australian-listed furniture and electronics chain Harvey Norman. Space first opened in Sydney in 1993, followed by showrooms in Melbourne and Brisbane. It opened in Singapore in 2001 and in Kuala Lumpur in 2007. The Singapore store is the group's most profitable outlet.

Space's success under Mr Wee's charge is all the more remarkable as he got into the premium furniture market by accident. His first foray in the field was running a small furniture business that fitted out offices in the 1980s. Before that, he was in human resources.

On why he took up the position of general manager of Space, he says: 'No one then had done something as crazy as opening a 20,000 sq ft showroom.'

Still, by then, he had racked up about 20 years of experience in the furniture industry and he knew that 'random placement of furniture in the showroom wouldn't work'. It is no better than placing furniture in an air-conditioned warehouse setting, he says.

So from day one, he hired a full-time visual merchandiser whose job was to 'present the furniture at a level that connects with our target clients'. That meant putting in little touches such as carpets, vases and cushions with the furniture to give it a more complete look.

'The feedback we got from customers is that 'this is the look and feel that I want',' says Mr Wee.

What the well-heeled might want to rest their well-fed rumps on was far from his mind when he entered the workforce. After completing his national service in the late 1970s, he worked at a shipping firm doing human resources for about seven years. 'I decided to leave as I felt it was getting a bit mundane and I felt unappreciated,' he says.

The opportunity to run a small furniture company with the potential to develop a licensee programme came up and he took it. 'I didn't know one end of furniture from the other, but it was something different.'

He spent nearly a decade, from 1981 to 1990, working at American furniture company Knoll. He handled the franchise for the South-east Asian region. He distributed loose furniture such as the iconic Barcelona chair, but the bulk of the business was in supplying office system panels.

The business was good and by the time he left, he had fitted out about 10,000 workstations across Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.

A Malaysian firm later bought into the franchise and due to differences in company direction, Mr Wee sold his share of the franchise and left. But working there, he says, 'influenced my love and passion for premium furniture'.

He then became the general manager of furniture store United B&B Italia, which was then under the UOL Group, for about 11/2 years, before starting his own business.

He ran his own firm, Elan Interiors, for about seven years, selling American and European furniture brands, including MDF Italia, Rimadesio and Artifort. Business was affected by the 1997 Asian financial crisis and he decided to close down the company.

He spent a few years working as a furniture consultant before the Space offer came along.

The jump into the premium furniture sector was a 'steep learning curve'. To educate himself, he visited trade fairs and factories such as those of Knoll in France, Italy and the United States.

Going to the prestigious Milan Furniture Fair, which industry players dictate as the fair to attend, is 'mandatory' for him. He has been going for 20 years.

He realised from the onset that Space had to be the 'premium contemporary resource and not just a furniture store'.

A key reason for Space's success as a local distributor for furniture brands is that it provides them with big spaces to display their products, he says. 'They use their display at Space to demonstrate to their distributors in other countries the level of presentation that they want.'

And now, with double the showroom area, it is natural that the brands want more space. To make things fair, Mr Wee has asked each brand to make a one-time money contribution that is pro-rated to the amount of space they get.

He declines to reveal how much each brand contributes, but says that 'all the brands have agreed to contribute and the amount is in excess of $1 million'. The brands include B&B Italia, Poliform, Giorgetti, Cassina and Kartell.

Another winning factor for Space is the amount of inventory stock that it has. Mr Wee declines to disclose how much stock is in its 40,000 sq ft warehouse in Jurong, but says that unlike at its Australian showrooms, it has ready stock on hand. Customers do not have to wait too long to get hold of the furniture. 'Asians tend to want their furniture fast. Making them wait 12 weeks is too long,' he adds.

He believes that his staff play a key role, too. The Singapore office is 75- strong, compared to 19 when the company first started.

'Staff are not order takers, but solution providers,' he says. They are taught about the furniture brands, the history behind them and the production process. Each year, they also get to visit the Milan fair and furniture factories.

The products used in the Space office are naturally those that they sell, such as Vitra office furniture for the staff and Varenna by Poliform kitchen systems for the pantry.

While Mr Wee says the opening of the Hub is the high point of his career, there were low moments, too.

In the first two years of opening, the company was 'bleeding, as operations were not settled and Space was not a name that Singaporeans were familiar with', he says.

Money was spent on advertising to get the Space name out. 'When we started, 5 to 6 per cent of the projected sales revenue was spent on advertising. When things got settled, the figure was lowered to below 5 per cent,' he says.

This year, to advertise the opening of the Hub, 'the marketing and promotions budget is in excess of a seven-figure sum', he adds.

By the third year of Space's operations, it was in the black and 'we have been making seven digits in revenue since year five', he says.

He now has a happy problem. Furniture brands are coming to him wanting Space as their local distributor.

But not all get signed up, including brands which sell product ranges too similar to what is already stocked at the store. Instead, Mr Wee, who personally makes the deals, says: 'We pick brands that are leaders in their own right, be it in innovation, style or historical connection.'

Over the years, brands that have not kept in line with the store's strategy of design style and quality have been dropped. But Mr Wee is open to welcoming them back again. For example, Italian brand Driade, which was discontinued before, is making a comeback.

'Some of its accessories, such as diningware, were not seen as value for money by clients, so we stopped selling them,' he says. 'This time round, we are looking at a more refined collection.'

So, does he hope to distribute Knoll, the brand that sparked his passion for furniture? 'To tell you I'm not interested would be a lie. If the opportunity comes, I would consider it, but I still have to look at the dynamics.' Knoll is currently distributed by Dream furniture store.

New brands that have approached Space include Danish names Fritz Hansen, Carl Hansen and Louis Poulsen, and American label Emeco.

Prices for designer furniture do not come cheap. At Space, a Flexform sofa sells from $15,000.

When Space started in 2001, its clients were 'true Singaporeans, but now there are more foreigners who have set up home here', Mr Wee says. He still calls them Singaporeans and says they make up 80 per cent of its clientele. The rest are from Malaysia, Thailand and India.

He also sees an increase in people who are willing to pay for the real stuff, rather than get a copy. The popularity of online shopping does not faze him either, as when it comes to furniture, 'people still like to touch and feel the product'.

Although he does not hold shares in Space, he gets a percentage of the group's annual profits.

Mr Wee, who describes his childhood as 'mundane', had a middle-income upbringing. His father, in his late 80s, did sales in a shipping company and his late mother was a civil servant. The St Andrew's School graduate has an older brother who runs an employment agency and a younger sister who is a housekeeper. He also had an elder sister who died.

On his unusual name of Syddal, Mr Wee jests that his parents were intoxicated when they named him. His siblings had more traditional names - June, Anna and Allan.

His father still lives in the family's terrace house in Serangoon Gardens. Mr Wee and his wife, Selene, 60, live in a four-bedroom apartment in the area, too. They moved into their home, a 'mini Space showroom', last year.

There is a B&B Italia sofa, Varenna by Poliform kitchen system, dining tables, shelving units, wardrobes and a bed from Poliform. His favourite pieces of furniture include a Tulip table by American Finnish designer Eero Saarinen and a Tizio Lamp by American designer Richard Sapper.

He says that, by default, he collects furniture. His wife, on the other hand, collects owl figurines. The couple, who do not have children, have been married for 30 years.

On designer furniture, Mr Wee says his wife 'has grown to love it'. He bars her from shopping at Swedish affordable furniture chain Ikea as 'it would be scandalous if people get to hear that her husband owns a furniture store', he jests.

With his easy-going nature and friendly demeanour, it is not hard for clients to become friends.

Landscape architect Casey Gan, 50, has known Mr Wee for nearly 20 years. He had bought furniture for his office and home from Mr Wee. 'I find him honest and honourable. Once he travelled with my wife and sister-in-law to Italy to look at furniture and he took good care of them,' he says.

Another client-turned-friend is Mr Donald Wong, 75, who runs a hi-fi shop. For the past four years, the two men have been meeting every Friday morning for breakfast, such as for dim sum and dessert in Chinatown or for laksa in Bedok.

Mr Wong had bought furniture from Mr Wee previously and over the years, some pieces rusted. 'Syddal took them away and had them repaired. For some other chairs, he specially made back cushions for them so that they would be more comfortable,' says Mr Wong. 'A mark of friendship is what your friend is prepared to do for you.'

It is not just friends who have good words for him. His boss, Ms Page, 54, says: 'We've invested so much in the new showroom. If we didn't think Syddal was doing a good job, we wouldn't have pumped in that sum.'

Speaking to Life! over the telephone from Holland where she is travelling, she adds: 'Syddal has got a good eye, he knows and loves his job and there's no one else I want to run the Hub.'

For those who do not know him, it is hard to tell that Mr Wee runs a multi-million-dollar business. Throughout the interview, words such as 'mundane' and 'nothing extraordinary' come up.

In fact, he adds that 'my life has been a whole series of accidents'.

Accident or not, it looks like he will be staying put for now: 'There's a subtle addiction to selling nice things.'

taysc@sph.com.sg

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my life so far

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr Wee when he was three years old (left), a teenager (right) and and on a mission trip to the Indonesian island of Nias in 2004 (below).

 

'I was slightly mischievous and the most accident-prone among my siblings. I climbed trees and first fell from one when I was five, which left me with a scar on my face. I climbed fences and once my mouth was caught in the barbed wire. I tripped in the toilet and ended up with a scar on my head'

Mr Syddal Wee on his childhood days

'I learnt that quality is a sustainable aspect of selling furniture. Even after the customers' shock at seeing the price, they come back for more, especially with an increase in affluence'

On what he has learnt about the premium furniture industry after more than 20 years

'Non parlo Italiano. They speak English to me'

On whether he speaks the language, since most of his brand partners are Italian firms

'It is an emotional thing, something that you can connect with. I learnt that form follows function, and it must work for you'

On what good design is

'I felt for the victims. The tsunami affected people who had to make ends meet. After that trip to Nias, an Indonesian island, to help dispense medicine, it made me thankful for what I have'

On why he joined a mission trip to help victims of the tsunami that resulted from an earthquake off Sumatra in 2004