(From left) NHB group director of policy Alvin Tan, with a made-in-Singapore Rollei camera; Mr Fu Siang Jeen. managing director of Wen Ken Group, which makes Three Legs Cooling Water; Heng Long tannery's master tanner Koh Chon Tong and executive director Koh Choon Heong; UIC Consumer Products marketing manager May Cheah, with a pack of its detergent powder from the 60s; and Mr Tong Kok Kong, director of Chop Wah On, famed for its medicated oils. -- ST PHOTO: AZIZ HUSSIN
A six-decade-old crocodile tannery which is a supplier to European fashion houses such as Louis Vuitton; a 77-year-old company which last year saw worldwide sales of 250 million bottles and cans of its cooling water from a 1937 recipe meant for coolies.
These home-grown brands - Heng Long tannery and Wen Ken Group's Three Legs Cooling Water - may have made their mark overseas but not many Singaporeans know of them.
"Few Singaporeans realise that if they own a crocodile-skin bag it was most likely dyed in their very own backyard," said Heng Long's executive director Koh Choon Heong.
An exhibition called 50 Made-in-Singapore products by the National Heritage Board (NHB) hopes to change this.
- See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/exhibition-showcase-local-brands-have-made-their-mark-ov#sthash.oW24v6IT.dpuf