Leather craftsman calls for gov’t help on brand promotion

The feeling of starting from scratch is about confronting difficulties,” said Mr Andrew Lo, who launched Macau’s first leather crafts workshop and brand of hand-made leather bags.
“Many people have the creativity [to do a job like this]. If we can cultivate an atmosphere for people to learn and make their own designs in Macau, we can help more people produce and sell their designs,” said Mr Lo, who had nearly 400 people come to his business, named the Leathership Workshop, in the past year.
The craftsman  has been organizing workshops for about three years, targeting people who want to learn the art of making a leather wallet or bag. It started with five students; since then, two more similar workshops have appeared in Macau.
“As far as I know, I’m the first professional leather bag maker in Macau. Before there were old craftsmen for leather shoes, but not for bags, and now they’ve retired from the sector,” explained Mr Lo.
The craftsman spent nearly five years learning in mainland China, HK and Taiwan. “Before there was nobody who taught leather crafts here. I thought Macau could develop in this sector,” he added. “When we first started the workshop, there were no leathers, materials and tools [available] in Macau. We went to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan to collect all that.”
Mr Lo and his partner also launched two original brands for hand-made leather products, displaying items in the workshop for sale. Several new designs will be put into mass production each season.
“It’s very hard to [navigate the] cultural and creative industry, especially for [manufacturing] products. The government must help this sector,” he stressed. “What the sector needs most is the government’s initiative in helping to promote the original brands to overseas customers.”
Besides the lack of promotion, the craftsman explained that the difficulties for operating the workshop and its own brands also come from a limited demand within the local market and the expense of high rents.
“The Cultural Bureau has supported us a lot, taking us to trade fairs every year.  It’s easy to apply for the creative industries’ fund. But [subsidising] is not enough help, ” he said, “they could make promotional videos and advertisements for us, even contact the overseas buyers.”
Furthermore, Mr Lo suggested that the government should set up a cultural and creative industry zone where venues are rented by the government for local creative brands.
“Being located near the Albergue SCM doesn’t help the shop attract many customers; when the evening starts, there’s nobody around” he said. “Most of the tourists that come here are only taking photos. ”
“If the government reserves this area as a pedestrian zone for creative industries into which vehicles are not allow to enter, and also provides financial aid for the area’s small creative businesses, it can generate a cascade effect and attract more tourists and customers to the zone.”
From merely teaching people the craft, the Leathership Workshop has grown into a plat-
form where Mr Lo collaborates with two local artists on new designs.
Today, many have seen the appeal of the workshops, and local department stores and boutique shops have also added its branded products to their shelves, leading to total sales of some 4,000 items per month. Brook Yang