AT JUST 14 years old, Yang Wah Kiang was suddenly thrust into the world of business when his father died and he had to take over the family's lens-grinding shop.

As the eldest son, he had the daunting task of running the small Geylang outlet while juggling his secondary school education and taking care of his mother and four siblings.

'Survival was the only thing on my mind during those early years of keeping the business afloat,' Mr Yang recalls.

Fast forward 45 years and his little workshop has not only survived but has also flourished into Nanyang Optical, a well-known brand in Singapore. It is one of Singapore's largest optical retail chains with about 20 outlets in Singapore, Malaysia and China, employing more than 80 people and boasting an annual turnover of more than $10 million.

That is a far cry from those tough early days when Mr Yang 'was so happy if the business made $100 a day'.

'$100 was big money in the 1960s, when 30 cents could buy you a bowl of wanton mee,' he chuckled. Even that $100 worth of sales was scraped together only after much investment in acquiring basic skills on how to run the business from old hands in the trade.

'I had little knowledge of the business, so I went to the experts from other workshops, bought them tea and begged them to teach me how to run a workshop,' says Mr Yang in a mix of fluent English and Mandarin - a reflection of his 'huge appetite for books and self-learning', even though he stopped formal schooling after the secondary school level.

Having a long-term vision

ALTHOUGH he relied initially on a foreman, Mr Yang eventually found his own feet - and vision - to venture into higher-margin products to ensure Nanyang's survival.

During long waits at other optical shops to collect lens-grinding orders, he noticed that the retail business was getting more lucrative as eyewear stores in shopping centres started to sprout across the country.

That led him to open his second outlet - at Katong Mall - about five years after he took over the firm. His siblings helped out with the business, and later his wife, whom he met in his mid-20s, also chipped in.

Currently, his son, an MBA-holder in his 30s, helps to run the export business, while his daughter, in her 20s, is a polytechnic teacher.

The business did well and garnered a loyal following - entire families, even to the third or fourth generation, still swear by Nanyang Optical to this day. But all too soon, the retail space was crowded with rivals selling similar frames and brands of glasses.

So in the 1990s, Mr Yang decided it was time to again move up the value chain to seek better margins. The arena this time was in the wholesale business. 'I thought it was easy - just import a few second-tier European brands and sell modified designs of the top-tier ones. Short-cut to making money,' recalls Mr Yang.

It turned out to be a costly mistake and he lost more than $200,000 because the wholesalers copied the same designs and undercut each other. This eroded margins and left Mr Yang stuck with large amounts of inventory. This prompted him to change tack again and he started creating his own high-end designer frames.

'I went one big round and ended back at square one. But I told myself, 'I've already paid the school fees, I'm not that young anymore, so I must try again and make it work this time'.'

Thanks to his network of contacts worldwide that he built up over the decades, Mr Yang quickly assembled a research and development team that included French designers. His overseas distributors also gave him feedback and ideas for novel frame or lens designs.

Designer in the making

BUT the first few designs he created were brushed off by eyewear experts in Europe. Mr Yang recalls the 'humbling experience' when he battled a bad flu and a thunderstorm to meet a French designer in New York.

The picky expert took a cursory glance at the 'tacky' designs and dismissed them out of hand, but at least volunteered to treat the deflated Mr Yang to a consolation dinner.

Undaunted, Mr Yang tried again. After two years of intense research into facial contours, fashion trends and optical technicalities, he came up with a new set of designs that 'made the Frenchman's eyes light up'. The designs also caught the eye of distributors at international eyewear exhibitions.

Mr Yang has experimented with new materials such as bamboo and leather for his designer spectacles, and also came up with a novel frame design called 'Link'. It uses a buckle joint that is flexible and does not rust, unlike the screws and springs found in conventional frames.

Mr Yang, by then a grandfather, got the idea partly from scrutinising the buckle on the strap of a toddler's high chair in a dim sum restaurant.

His 'Link' invention won him recognition last year at an annual international event called iF Design Awards held in Germany.

The 59-year-old Mr Yang still retains a boyish relish for innovation - something he calls 'playing with his work'.

During his frequent overseas work trips, he loves nothing better than to sit at cafes with a steaming cup of coffee - no sugar, no cream - and a stack of white paper. He then people-watches to get inspiration for his designs.

'I love the process. I can sit for three hours while my wife is shopping, and draw design after design - 1,000, 10,000 sheets,' he said, with a gleam in his eyes - which are still in prime condition.

'I can still see quite well at my age, and never needed to wear spectacles,' he says.

'To me, spectacles are not just functional items - they are accessories. Spectacles draw attention because they sit on your face, so they must bring out your personality,' he declared.

'If one tai-tai turns up at a cocktail party with the same handbag as another, they would be so upset. What more if you wear the same pair of spectacles as someone else?'

Little wonder, then, that Mr Yang's passion for his craft helps him to see work through the lens of play. 'I have no plans to retire. I want to keep playing for as long as I can,' he says.