A Scandinavian style would thoroughly describe my preference for the interior design of my future home. Perhaps it’s my fondness for IKEA showrooms, or that its minimalistic style uses a blend of textures and soft hues to make sleek, modern décor feel warm and inviting.
But for those wanting to break away from a mundane trap, some contrast is needed in the form of unique décor, and Lasprecious Design’s (Lasprecious) ocean-themed furniture could be a welcome addition. It can add personality to a room, knowing that no two pieces of the resin designs are identical.
Spent his savings on an unfamiliar craft
The maker behind Lasprecious is Froson, a Quantity Surveyor graduate from UTAR. During his career at a construction company, he’d enjoy site visits where he could view different interior designs in new buildings.
This interest was a natural extension of his creative knack since young when he would make his own toys from junk, illustrate comics, and pick up the guitar to write songs.
When the time came for his elderly parents to retire, Froson wanted to start a business to help support them comfortably while also creating something that stood out in the furniture market.
Thus, he turned to resin art despite having no prior experience with the material. He watched over 20 tutorial videos on YouTube to get started, and most of his savings were spent on buying materials and tools to practice.
For the first 3 months of R&D, Froson only clocked in 4 hours of sleep each night, staying up to monitor the resin’s reactions. Over 20 types of resin experiments were tested and failed before he landed on his first complete design of a lamp he named Ocean Heart.
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A sea of home décor
If you look through Lasprecious’ website, you’d notice that all of its products are centred around the ocean as a theme. Froson told Vulcan Post that when he first started out in 2017, the handcrafted lamps made were not limited to oceans only, but also carried designs of forests and miscellaneous sceneries.
“However, during these months, we found that our ocean-themed lamp was the best seller,” Froson said. The startup’s product categories expanded in 2018 with clocks and vases with the ocean-themed ones once again receiving the highest in sales.
This was a pivotal insight for Lasprecious. “In 2019, we decided to focus on ocean-themed designs first,” Froson said, adding that they’d hoped it would give their brand the opportunity to become specialised in the themed products.
Taking a look at options online, there appears to be no other local player creating ocean-themed resin products for interior design. Lasprecious found a niche in the market, but it was one they saw significant demand for, as Froson shared earlier.
Lasprecious mostly sells to young adults between the ages of 25 to 35 who are looking for something unique to have in their homes—a statement piece, if you will.
“Most [people] of the younger generation will design their house by themselves as they know what they want and they choose what they like. Some of our customers liked the ocean theme and bought almost the whole set of our products together,” Froson added.
They’re sisters, not twins
“Hopefully after the pandemic, we can participate in more furniture fairs and bazaars to promote our brand and increase our sales in the market. In the future, we will also target the tourism market, and hotel developments which are near the beach.”
The resin creations are all made by hand, and Lasprescious also uses stones that are naturally shaped by the environment, meaning that no two pieces are alike despite a similar layout.
How then does one ensure quality control in the craft? It comes down to the consistency in sizes and colour palettes used. A standardised mould is used to tackle the former, while a set ratio for sand, resin, and colour mixtures help the latter. For designs that require stones, Froson handpicks those of similar sizes to use.
To create the waves, consistency, control, and accuracy when blowing are required with only one chance to shape its design. A levelled base is critical when pouring the liquid resin as well, as a slanted mould would set into an uneven surface for the product.
As the creation is a time-consuming and tedious process, Lasprecious is only able to produce few quantities per batch. For its smaller products like plates, clocks, and lamps, around 10 to 20 copies can be made per batch, while for larger items like tables, there will only be 1 to 3 copies of each kind.
Prices for its products can vary based on their size. For example (with no discounts applied), clocks and lamps come at RM320 each, plates are RM50, while tables can range from RM880 to RM9,800.
To date, Lasprecious has been recording an average monthly revenue between RM5,000 to RM20,000 on particularly good months. Taking customers’ feedback and preferences into consideration and making improvements to their products is what Froson believes drove their growth.
You’d think that creating products of one theme would get old after a while, but the Lasprecious team thinks differently. From the ocean alone they’ve found the inspiration to create subcategories such as Sunshine Beach, Pink Beach, Blue Tears, and more.
It’s likely they won’t run out of ocean-themed inspiration for quite a while, but when they do, Froson already has other themes planned. If you’re always looking for statement pieces, expect to see forest and galaxy-themed products from Lasprecious in 2 years’ time.
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- You can learn more about Lasprecious Design here.
- You can read about other Malaysian startups we’ve featured here.
Featured Image Credit: Lasprecious Design
