When Grace Han, a British luxury leather goods brand founded by Taiwanese-born entrepreneur Grace Wong (王思涵), reopened its flagship store in London on Oct. 27 after being shut down for three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it had plenty to owe to royalty.
In 2020, when the pandemic hit and the brand’s founder was questioning the store’s future, the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, gave the company a lift by carrying a Grace Han bag at a public appearance.
Then, in her first public appearance as the Princess of Wales in September last year, Middleton carried the same small, black top-handle bag from Grace Han’s “Love Letter” collection, an endorsement which gave the brand momentum as pandemic restrictions were eased.
Photo courtesy of Grace Han
Grace Han is actually a Taiwanese-launched company.
Wong is also the designer of the brand’s leather products. She is the daughter of Taiwanese business tycoon Winston Wong (王文洋) and late artist Anita Wong (陳靜文).
Grace Wong majored in economics in college at the request of her father, but she said the artistic influence of her late mother, who passed away in 2007, had always stuck with her, prompting her to study fashion.
It was during that time that she was introduced to leather as a medium and found herself immediately drawn to its versatility and beauty, she said.
After the launch of her brand in 2011, she crafted several pieces that earned popular acclaim, giving her the catalogue and recognition to launch the Grace Han flagship store in London.
It opened on upscale Beauchamp Place in Knightsbridge in 2019, near Harrods of London, but soon after, in the first few months of 2020, the world came to a halt as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and people were not allowed to travel or do much shopping outside of home.
The lack of foreseeable opportunity and lackluster sales forced her to close the store.
She decided to focus on lowering costs by retracing her roots, Grace Wong said.
She relocated the production of the brand’s luxury accessories and leather goods products to Taiwan, assembling a team based in Changhua County.
“I wanted to reverse the traditional impression of MIT [Made in Taiwan] products,” she said in a recent interview.
“As long as the quality standards stay high, the end results will always be good no matter where the products are made,” she said. “I hope to keep the core production techniques in Taiwan and have people notice that these [luxury leather goods] are all made by Taiwan.”
Grace Han products have now been made in Changhua for about three years by a team of young craftspeople. They are overseen by two masters, each with about 50 years of experience in the field.
However, just as critical to the rebound of her brand, was the Duchess of Cambridge carrying a Grace Han bag in 2020 as an unofficial endorsement.
It provided a morale boost at a time when Grace Wong had just closed her London store.
She said her products initially caught the eye of one of Middleton’s stylists, who contacted the Taiwanese designer after passing her store.
The stylist asked for a full catalogue from which Middleton herself picked out the Love Letter bag she now carries.
The Love Letter collection was inspired by the seal flap of an envelope and how the flap’s triangular shape resembles the irresistible smile that grows on a person’s face when they pen a love letter, Grace Wong said.
Middleton understood the meaning behind the bag’s design, which might explain why she had it with her during an appearance at a Muslim center in London in March to support a fundraising drive for victims of the Turkey-Syria earthquake, Grace Wong said.
Wong this month participated in the Asian Art in London event, becoming the first leather artist to have a work at the art event since its launch in 1998.
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