Jewellery maker looks to city store, exports

Meanwhile, Phongsakorn is negotiating with distributors in Laos and Cambodia to export his products to both countries in the next year.
Phongsakorn also plans to invest up to Bt10 million to open a showroom of Sukhothai silver and gold work in Si Satchanalai district, Sukhothai province in the next three years. The showroom will double as a museum showcasing the unique design of Sukhothai gold and silver.
“The showroom will show how to do ancient gold and silver work in the Sukhothai technique. It will improve the number of tourists coming to the province and also increase our long-term domestic sales and overseas export,” Phangsakorn said. 
Phongsakorn stared his working life at age 18 after graduating from secondary school. He worked as a construction labourer overseas in Taiwan, Iran, and South Korea until he saved Bt300,000. Following a discussion with his wife about what to do with the savings, he decided to come back home to Sukhothai province. 
“My wife suggested we do jewellery. She has over than 20 years experience working with gold jewellery. This inspired me to come back home and establish my own business with my wife,” he said in a recent interview with The Nation.
Phongsakorn spent the budget Bt300,000 establishing a silver jewellery business. 
“We wanted to do gold jewellery, but that has too high a cost of investment. So we decided to design silver jewellery, copying a pattern of flowers from Wat Nang Phaya, which is the ancient temple at Si Satchanalai district. This represents the culture and ancient tradition of Sukhothai province,” he said.
In 2011, the year he established his business, the company generated Bt300,000 a month from a combination of sales at his shop in Sukhothai province and from promotions at One Tambon, One Product (OTOP) events across the country.
To invest in equipment and expand from silver to gold jewellery, Phongsakorn borrowed Bt2 million from Kasikorn Bank in 2012, with half of the loan guaranteed by Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation. 
Now, Phongsakorn and his wife are looking to expand, with a second shop in JJ Mall, Bangkok in the last quarter of 2017. This will help to boost sales after a drop in demand in Sukhothai as the province’s economy has declined, he said. 
“In the first half of this year, we could sell only Bt100,000 a month – lower than last year’s sales. This is following the country’s slow economic growth and a drop in the number of tourists in Sukhothai.”
He responded to the drop by creating gold jewellery decorated with a Buddha image. It has found strong demand in the market and Phongsakorn remains hopeful. 
“We hope for a boost in our sales in the second half of this year to an average Bt200,000 a month,” he said.