TaFF Industry Roundtable

From building a brand to building strategic partnerships, Carrie K is no stranger to business collaborations with known brands and personalities such as (Disney and Paige Parker) that propel her brand both locally and beyond. Learn the benefits of collaborations, how to identify collaborative opportunities and what to keep in mind when you start building those bridges of collaboration.

Industry Roundtables are a series of dialogue forums that give TaFF members a chance to have their voices heard. Led by a member of the TaFF council and geared around a specific theme or focus, each session is part-learning, part-dialogue - giving members the space to impact the way in which the association determines its policies and shapes our industry.

About The Speaker

A former managing director of an international advertising agency, in 2008, Carolyn Kan took a year off the corporate race to travel. She had an epiphany when learning to silversmith in Florence, and Carrie K. Jewellery was created in July 2009. Just a year later, in 2010, Kan won ELLE Awards “Jewellery Designer of the Year”. This helped catapult Carrie K. from a successful Singapore jewellery label into an international export label. Carrie K. is now known for modern, versatile, fine jewellery heirlooms that tell meaningful stories. Most recently, Carrie K. won a number of accolades including the Singapore Fashion Awards’ “Designer of the Year. Accessories. 2016”, “Bespoke designer of the Year”, “Best collaboration of the Year”, for Carrie K.’s Collaboration with Disney, and “Champion of the Industry” 2017. The brand now has its eye on being synonymous with the reinvention of classic pearl necklace and putting Singapore on the global map for design and innovation in fine jewellery.

In 2011, Carolyn started Keepers, a Singapore designer collective spotlighting Singapore designers, artists and craftsmen. This CSR initiative culminated in the Keepers Singapore Designers Collective pop-up from 2014 to 2016, which was the catalyst for the Design Orchard.

Carolyn studied science at CHIJ secondary. She graduated with a BSC in Psychology from the University of Melbourne. Her career was a series of connected dots in marketing, starting in events management, then Sales & Marketing at the Television Corporation of Singapore. She then joined advertising and was promoted to Managing Director of M&C Saatchi at 29 in 2003, making her the youngest female head of an international advertising agency at the time.