Flower Diamond Boutique
#03-02, Ngee Ann City
Tel: 6736-3380

Belinda Chua opened Flower Diamond Boutique at Ngee Ann City in 1996. Not a good year to set up shop in Singapore's premier retail address, not when we know what happened in 1997.

But the astute businesswoman managed to ride out the Asian financial crisis then, and grew Flower year-on-year to become the favourite private jeweller of blushing brides with a not-so-shy budget.

Staying the course despite being surrounded by neighbours like Tiffany & Co, Cartier, Bulgari and Chopard in Ngee Ann City may be a mean feat in itself, but now she's even raising the bar by expanding Flower to two and a half times its original size.

'I seem to have a knack for taking the business up another level during challenging times,' quips the 40-something Ms Chua. Hers is a 'rags'-to-riches story of sorts, given that Ms Chua first started out in the rag trade. 'I used to have a share in Grace Fashion House which operated out of Lucky Plaza in the 1980s, and tailor-made dresses for tai-tais,' she shares.

She was only in her early 20s then, but she had already chalked up extensive work experience in everything from advertising to secretarial jobs. 'My father had passed away when I was still young, you see,' she explains.

The fashion-conscious Ms Chua knew even at that young age that she wanted to run her own business. With her tailoring business doing nicely, she began to bring in Japanese labels to Singapore to sell.

But all this took a back seat when she got to know a friend in the jewellery business in Hong Kong, and saw the potential of doing the same in Singapore. There was no stopping her as she signed up for a gemstone certification course and started researching trends and customer tastes.

'When Ngee Ann approached me to set up shop in 1996, I jumped at the opportunity because you just didn't know when there would be available space again,' she recounts.

It was a big risk, and it was a tough three years before Flower's sales started to pick up. She cites her decision to go into white gold at a time when yellow gold was still the norm and the move into semi-precious gems that helped to build Flower's reputation.

The plushly decorated expanded space also means that Ms Chua can diversify her offerings, with about 60 per cent of the store carrying Flower's own designs, and 40 per cent featuring Italian brands Nouvelle Bague and Stephen Hafner. There's also Tippy and Matthew, a funky colourful range of jewellery which use enamel, semi-precious stones on silver.

Prices start at a comfortable $500 for shoppers who want some semi-fine designer jewellery, and range all the way up to $2.5 million, for a necklace dripping with diamonds culminating in a 30.13 carat light brown pear-shaped diamond pendant.

Ms Chua has also launched a younger line of jewellery, named Sabrina, after her daughter, priced from $2,000 to $5,000 for young executives and professionals.

'In times like this, it's about reacting quickly to customers' tastes and needs,' says Ms Chua. It's no wonder that customised jewellery still makes up about 40 per cent of Flower's business.

Customers are getting savvier and more discerning by the day, but they haven't stopped buying, she says. 'They might buy a piece or two fewer but yet demand more bling for their buck, but that's when a good jeweller is able to step up to the occasion and flourish.'

This article was first published in The Business Times.

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