‘Thai jewellery workers among the world’s best’

Palaces, which began its manufacturing operations in Bangkok in 2013, and exports more than 90 per cent of its output, took part for the first time in the Bangkok Gems and Jewellery Fair that concluded yesterday at Muang Thong Thani. 

“It was a tremendous experience taking part in the fair,” said the Dubai-based Basel, who flew down for the fair. “After this experience, we’ll ensure our presence at all such events in Thailand.” 

Basel is 100-per-cent owner of the Board of Investment privileges company that also has offices in Canada, UK, Geneva and Dubai.

Buoyed by the response at the fair, Basel, who learned the jewellery craft from his father at the age of 10 in Damascus and was selling his own creations by the age of 13, is also looking at tapping markets in Asean and Asia.

“Surely the region, and also China figure very high in our plans for the next few years,” he said. 

“Our traditional markets have been Canada, western Europe, the Middle East and Russia. We’re relatively new to the region. We see the need to focus on the region. But we’ll maintain Bangkok as our manufacturing hub and look to expand it,” Basel said. “It’s not easy to find the level of skills Thais have in other places,” he said.

“We have designed everything at the factory to Swiss standards with state of the art equipment,” Basel said.

Basel used to visit Bangkok many years ago and buy millions of dollars worth of jewellery every year. He was so impressed with the skills of Thai workers that when he decided to expand his operations, he decided to make Bangkok his manufacturing base.

“What makes our operations extraordinary is, we don’t outsource any of the work,” says Christopher Sen, Palaces operations director. “We have about 15 different processes. All this happens in-house. Before and after each process, it goes for quality control. Because it’s all done under one roof, we can repeat a process until we’re happy with the results. This wouldn’t be possible if we depended on outsiders.”

“If we want, we can get the job done at a much lower cost by hiring foreign workers, or getting it made in other countries. Being in a free zone, there are no restrictions on hiring foreign workers. But we believe Thai skills in this field are extraordinary and we don’t want to compromise on quality,” Sen said.

“This exhibition was a reminder for us to explore the region,” says Sen. “We’re relatively new to the region. Our traditional markets have been the Middle East, Canada, western Europe and Russia. We’ll start seriously evaluating Asean and China markets, look at the current trends there, come up with designs and widen our presence.”

“In the next two years, we’ll be expanding in a big way,” says Basel. China is market Palaces is interested in because of the great number of Chinese who are travelling abroad, looking for high-end jewellery. 

Basel’s businesses are languishing in his home country, strife-torn Syria. “I’m praying it will all end and Syria can return to normalcy. Nothing is impossible,” he says, sounding a note of cautious optimism.