What drove you to finally start Sauvereign?

I discovered this gilding technique, which was a light bulb moment for me because I felt that with a luxury brand – or with any brand – there has to be a signature. And the brand didn’t stand for anything. It could be any brand, because it had no signature. And that was the turning point, in 2012.

I formed a partnership with Rupert Sanderson by creating a sort of diffusion line, but we were actually the main line, because we had all these bricks-and-mortar stores in the prime locations in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Beijing and Shanghai.

So as time went by, I gained more competence and our business began to grow. And I began to feel very uneasy about the partnership because I didn’t own it, even though I helped to create the collection and also the name. I then wanted the autonomy to come up with my own design and to own the business fully.

How do customers react when they learn that Sauvereign is a Hong Kong brand?

They are often surprised. There are usually two types of response: either they really love it, they really feel emotionally connected with it, they feel proud that Hong Kong has produced someone like me who is able to do this; or they just find it completely incredible, and they refuse to accept that someone from Hong Kong can do this. There has to be someone blue-eyed, with blonde hair.

If you’re in the UK or in France and you say, “Oh, this is local”, they love it. But here in this part of the world, in Asia, “local” is not synonymous with luxury.

Tell us more about the products.

The shoes are made in Italy, near Florence and Bologna; the bags are made in France.

One thing that we are very proud of is that the gold leaf technique was invented in house in 2012. Again, there is a bias and prejudice – because it’s made in Hong Kong, it shouldn’t be expensive. I explained to the media and everybody who asked me about it that, first of all, this is a technique that was invented by us. And we’ve perfected it, we’ve fine-tuned it for eight, nine years now. It’s never been done before.

And because our factory is in Italy, the whole process is actually very painstaking because they have to send us all the components from Italy to Hong Kong, and then we ship them all back to Italy. They assemble then ship everything back to us. I mean, if it’s about cost saving, it actually doesn’t make any sense. Makes no sense.

There’s a lot of information [we can give] to clients. But ultimately, when they come in, they just look at the shoes, they try them on. They are alluring, they’re appealing, they find them comfortable, and they want to buy – price-wise – and they understand what they’re paying for, and that it is made in Hong Kong.

How do you convey to consumers that this is a luxury brand?

Everything is made by an artisan using centuries-old techniques by hand, so everything has soul. And we are, in a way at this present moment, hindered by our production. We can’t just churn out products. All the shoes, bags and everything else we’re making, we’re completely relying on artisans, and we’re trying to support them as much as we can. There’s often a waiting list. And people will have to pay upfront, and then they will have to wait for delivery or sometimes even allocation.

Work experience

June 2020-present: Founder and chief creator, Sauvereign

November 2017-May 2020: Founder, R. Sanderson

March 2010-October 2017: Asia partner, Rupert Sanderson

July 2007-October 2009: Watch specialist, Christie’s

July 2005-May 2007: Graduate management trainee, Louis Vuitton