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Scanteak
Founded by Mr Lim Pok Chin, Scanteak is an established furniture company that has been around for since the 70s. Scanteak's furniture combines Scandinavian inspired designs with the Asian-loved teak wood. The company offers solutions to a restful environment. Its lifelong vision is providing furnishing home solutions to the hectic pace of executive living.

Scanteak's furniture is known to be simple Scandinavian design made from teak. Teak is known for its light golden brown colour, beautiful grain and, above all, the smooth gentle feel. It is very easy to work with, suitable for indoor and outdoor furnishing, giving a warm and cosy feeling.

Currently, Scanteak has a global network of 6 branch offices, including 14 stores in Singapore and over 100 stores and retail outlets in Taiwan, Brunei, Japan and Canada. It employs nearly more than 500 staff who work in the retail stores in Asia and corporate offices in Germany and the United States.

History
Mr Lim, the founder of Scanteak, started it's predecessor Hawaii Interior Decoration in 1974, in a 400 sq ft office space in Joo Chiat with just one employee.

In 1975, together with Mrs Lim, the husband and wife worked together to build the business. The salesman turned entrepreneur ran into his first recession at 23, during the 1976 economic crisis caused by rocketing oil prices. Nevertheless, the business did so well that by 1979, its annual turnover had hit $10 million. At that point, Mr Lim incorporated the company under the Hawaii Furnishing name. By 1984, the company was flourishing and had two big showrooms: one 10,000 sq ft store in Hougang and another 24,000 sq ft store in Marine Parade Centre.

The couple invested over $3 million and managed to secure the distribution rights for the Fly furniture brand from France. At that time, some of the major furniture players in Singapore were Ikea, Actus and Habitat.

However, due to forex fluctuations during the 1980s, coupled with consumers’ inability to appreciate French products, and the fact that pinewood furniture warped due to high humidity, the business did not take off. The oil crisis also made things worse and soon the couple was mired in a few million dollars’ worth of debt. Despite advice that it would be more prudent to shut down Hawaii Furnishing, the couple refused to do so. They moved their store to a cheaper location in Bukit Timah in 1986. There, they continued to work diligently on Scanteak’s furniture line. Over the next few years, Mr Lim began to concentrate more on the design of his furnishings, eventually combining what he felt was the best of East and West - Scandinavian design for its simplicity and elegance, and Asian teak for its attractive grain and colour.

And that was how the name Scanteak was born: 'Scan' from Scandinavia, and 'teak' from the wood used to manufacture the products. The Scanteak brand was officially launched in 1988.

Expansion into Taiwan and Japan
Taiwan Scanteak started listing in Taiwan to raise additional funds for further expansion to regional markets and R&D of new product ranges, as advised by the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises. Furthermore, compared to Singapore and Hong Kong who have more mature capital markets, Taiwan offers a higher price-to-earnings ratio as well as a higher turnover because of its high amount of retail investors. On top of that, listing in Taiwan is generally cheaper. Costs that associated with a listing, such as legal and accounting fees, are about 20 per cent to 30 per cent cheaper than that in Hong Kong or Singapore.

Japan Scanteak took on the first major step and became the first furniture retailer in Asia to penetrate the Japanese market. It first started out its first showroom in Osaka in the mid-year of 2005. The main objective for Scanteak is to challenge itself in meeting Japan’s stringent demands on quality and service, so that they will be able to cater to the needs and expectations of the global consumers.

Started from just 3 sales staffs, Scanteak Japan has 42 staffs now who are mainly engaged in sales, while the delivery process is outsourced to an external firm. To date, Scanteak has 11 stores in Japan - 3 in Tokyo, 1 in Yokohama, 4 in Osaka, 2 in Kobe and 1 in Kyoto.

It recently opened its doors to its newest showroom in Nagoya.

Designers’ Collection
PROLOGUE Prologue is a new collection created from a collaboration with Scanteak and Outofstock design. Prologue's 12-piece collection features elegant armchairs, bookshelves and table for small homes, but the teak wood has been re-engineered to be light in proportion and weight, a departure from Scanteak's usual larger silhouette. The Prologue collection has won many awards, including ''Winner of the IPOS Award for Design Innovation, the Singapore Good Design Award 2015, the international Good Design Award 2015, and the President's Design Award Singapore. ''

This collaboration meant that Scanteak could embark on the project as part of its plans to capture a bigger market share in Japan as this new range specifically suits consumer taste in the country. Japanese houses tend to be smaller and there is a preference for simple and minimalist designs. To gather more inspiration and information, Outofstock was flown down to Tokyo and Osaka to do product research on what the Japanese like and what they don't.

The partners of Outofstock visited Japanese homes in Osaka, Kobe and Tokyo with the help of a translator. The main goal was to gather inspiration to combine both the essentials of the metropolitan life and limited space. The initiative was supported by government agencies, the DesignSingapore council of the Ministry of Communications and Information and SPRING Singapore.

The resulting Prologue collection, which took more than a year of development and prototyping, features a sofa, arm chair, coffee table, TV sideboard, bookshelf, dining chair, dining table and bench, each inspired by the observation of user habits and lifestyle during the research trip.

Holm Holm is another Designer collaboration with Outofstock design. Holm's 6-piece collection are designed with the Singaporean family's lifestyle in mind, reflecting and complementing the Singaporean way of life. The collection has the expression of functional art, practicality and balancing aesthetics.

About Outofstock This design collective was formed in 2005, made up of Singaporeans Gabriel Tan and Wendy Chua, Argentinian Gustavo Maggio, and Spaniard Sebastian Alberdi. The group currently works on furniture, industrial and spatial design projects for international clients such as Ligne Roset and also designs for home-grown furniture brands Foundry and Scanteak.

SSTEC
In 2012, IE Singapore announced a $9.5million assistance to help Singapore-based companies to establish and develop an overseas business foothold in the North China market. The SSTEC project, short for Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City aims to promote a more sustainable urbanization model.

SSTEC is the master developer for the Tianjin Eco-City. It is a 50-50 joint venture between the Chinese Consortium led by Tianjin TEDA Investment Holding Co., Ltd (Tianjin TEDA) and the Singapore Consortium led by Keppel Group, whereby each Consortium.

By signing an investment deal with SSTEC, the initiative serves as a good platform for Scanteak to plant their base step in China. Considering the geographic location and immerse support from the authorities, Scanteak sets to look into various forms of market feasibility studies and test-bedding.

Scan-D Corp
Scan-D partners with Nolte Group to distribute European furniture in Taiwan. Currently, it heads 82 Scanteak and 12 Scan Living stores in Taiwan and there are intentions to expand to a hundred stores in a decade.

Scan-D was listed under Forbes’ Asia’s 200 Best Under A Billion in 2012.

In 2012, Scan-D commenced the opening of the newly-built logistic centre so as to facilitate the rising demand in Taiwan.

2nd Generation
Daughter Jamie, 32, who studied film in the United States, is now the company's regional marketing director (Singapore).

Second child Julian, 29, who has a master's degree in business administration from the University of Michigan, is looking after the Japan operations,

Corporate Social Responsibility Efforts
In 2000, being one of the first in Singapore, Mrs Lim spearheaded Scanteak’s Aids awareness campaign which emphasised the importance of protecting the health and well-being of every family unit.

In 2008, Mrs Lim invited a Santa Claus from Finland to Singapore in hope to spread some Christmas cheer. Santa paid a special visit to sick children and distributed presents in the cancer wards of the National University as well as KK Women’s and Children’s hospitals, introducing them to a slice of Yuletide tradition.

Mrs Lim is a regular volunteer at wards of hospitals and is part of the committee of Care and Concern Society which aims to assist the poor and needy in Singapore. She believes in nurturing young talents for the future in furniture design. Lead by her, Scanteak focuses a lot on working with design faculties at various polytechnics.

Showrooms around the world
• Singapore - 14 stores • Taiwan - 81 stores • Japan - 13 stores • Germany - 1 store • Brunei - 1 store • Canada - 1 store

Awards
2015 Singapore Good Design Award for the Prologue Collection IPOS Award for Design Innovation for the Prologue Collection Good Design Award in Japan, for the Prologue Collection President's Design Award for the Prologue Collection 2014 Singapore Tatler’s Best of Singapore 2014 Furniture (Outdoor) Award 2013 Singapore Tatler’s Best of Singapore 2013 Furniture (Outdoor) Award Singapore Prestige Brand Award (SPBA) 2013: - Regional Brand - Voted as the Most Popular Regional Brand - Overall Winner for the Regional Brands Award Category 2012 Outstanding Foreign Entrepreneur Award at Taiwan’s Golden Merchant Awards A member of the Singapore Service Star Singapore Tatler’s Best of Singapore 2012 Furniture (Outdoor) Award FORBES: Asia’s 200 Best under a Billion 2011 Outstanding Foreign Firm Award at Taiwan's Golden Merchant Awards 2010 Singapore Tatler’s Best of Singapore 2010 Furniture (Contemporary) Award Scanteak is a member of the Singapore Service Star 2009 SUPERBRANDS SINGAPORE 2009 Award Best of Tatler Singapore 2009 Furniture (Contemporary) Award 2006 CitiBusiness-SPBA Regional Brand Award (Singapore) Outstanding Foreign Firm Award at Taiwan’s Golden Merchant Awards 2005 Distinctive Award at the Singapore Promising Brand Awards 2004 2nd Singapore Promising Brand Award SUPERBRANDS SINGAPORE 2004/2005 Award 2003 1st Singapore Promising Brand Award 2001 Singapore Small-Medium Enterprise 500 Award