Pride of a Nation: Retracing the steps of Habib since 1958
The homegrown jeweller has come a long way.
When an enterprising Habib Mohamed decided to open his very first store, a small workshop along Penang’s illustrious “Jeweller’s Corner” on Pitt Street, the determined go-getter brought with him an astute comprehension of real customer needs—following his stint at another retailer where he played the long game and worked his way up from an assistant to a participating partner.
That deep understanding prompted him to take the road less travelled. At a time when gold was par for the course, the visionary went after an untapped market as he turned his attention to diamonds. It was a power move that laid the foundation for the brand and set it apart from its contemporaries. That dare-to-be-different philosophy still resonates with present-day Habib under the stewardship of Dato’ Sri Meer Sadik, the heir of the empire.
“I used to help my father weigh the jewellery pieces on the old-school dacing,” says the Group Executive Chairman as he retraces his steps to discovering the art of jewellery making. It all began at a time when his family was living in a shophouse. The young Meer would every so often lend a hand at the store after coming across and being fascinated by precious gemstones in a variety of colours and designs.
“We were one of the earliest in the country to work with diamonds and subsequently intan—a by-product of diamond that is unique for its cut. With intan, especially, you cannot simply make the prongs and choose the stones to fit them in. You need to put the stones together and only then can you proceed with the next step. Back then, everything was done by hand, so each and every piece was like a work of art,” he reminisces.
The element of novelty combined with superior quality shot Habib to prominence in due time, but growing demand proved to be a double-edged sword. The slow process of producing handmade jewellery was not going to stand. Finding itself at the crossroads, the jewellery house promptly devised a hybrid system for more efficient production, driven by a marriage of sophisticated machinery and age-old finishing techniques.
Indeed, in the hands of Meer, Habib flourished. His forward- thinking approach was evident from the outset when he brought the brand to Kuala Lumpur in 1986. Admittedly a real estate enthusiast—he acknowledges that he would be in the property business in an alternate universe—Meer knew that the key to a fruitful venture was the location. So, he searched high and low for the perfect house for Habib.
“I was looking for a safe-enough place downtown where it would be accessible for everybody. I wanted people to be able to drive to the place, come in taxis or even mini buses—they were very popular in the Eighties. So we opened our showroom at Semua House,” he says. Sure enough, the store quickly garnered popularity and established Habib as a new force in Klang Valley’s fine jewellery scene as we know it.
With all these accomplishments under his belt, one cannot help but wonder if the second-generation jeweller has achieved everything he had set out to when he took up the baton years ago. To this, he replies: Perjuangan belum selesai (the fight is not over). He will not rest until he has put Malaysia on the map and changed the mindset of our people who he deems, controversial as it may sound, as hampered by inferiority complex.
“We often think that the foreigners are better than us and that we are not as good. We are willing to pay a much higher price for a product just because it comes from abroad. It could be the result of colonialism,” he says in frustration. He then launches into an impassioned speech as he recounts his experience dealing with local mall management teams that prioritise international brands when it comes to leasing the prime spots.
“You see, recently, we were told to leave one of the shopping malls in Sabah because a foreign brand wanted to take over our store. We are talking about Habib, a popular brand in Malaysia. Can you imagine how smaller brands are going to survive? I can understand if a mall wants to move the tenants around for a fresher look but give us an equally good location. You don’t just push us to some corner,” he adds.
Meer stresses that understanding our own culture is crucial in changing the public’s attitude towards homegrown brands. Habib, as a brand, too has internalised this belief if the commendable effort to preserve its heritage jewellery is any indication. Not stopping there, the jeweller also pledges to equip itself with depth of knowledge in the great many things about Malaysia through research, among other things on the horizon.
