100 Malaysians, 100 Milestones – LSA100 this year spotlights Koh Li Tim, Business Development Director at Environment Design Consultants International turned beauty entrepreneur as his local culture-infused skincare brand Paloma, which he co-founded earlier this year and has already garnered attention.
Here’s something you should know about Koh Li Tim: he’s a master of aesthetics. Another thing you should know about him: his humour is of the self-deprecating kind.
Standing a little over six feet tall, he lumbers into the studio on this Friday afternoon with his eyes downcast, his chin tucked to his chest. There are a lot of people crammed in the studio today and it’s clear he is doing his best not to get in anybody’s way, but he does do a double take when he spots Jaclyn Victor in the corner of the room. “Uh, hey, can I ask—?” He says to us sheepishly, “what are you guys doing, having me here in the same shoot with the Jaclyn Victor?” (This brand of humour reveals itself throughout his cover shoot, multiple times.)
But Li Tim has done plenty for himself this year alone, including co-founding the homegrown skincare brand, Paloma. It’s his latest passion project, and together with his partners Howie Lee and Sheryl Oon, he’s got his sights set on bringing the ‘fruits’ of his labour — and the actual fruits that are abundant in our rainforests — out on international waters.
Even with his shy gait and gawky charm, it’s hard to miss his absolutely flawless skin. In fact, it’s impossible to distinguish between pre-makeup and post-makeup Li Tim. “I’ve always loved skincare since I was in school,” he tells me, which already says more than I need to know about where Paloma had come from. His eye for beauty — and the smallest details that uncover it — is another factor. As the only child of Vincent Koh, who’s helmed the interior design firm EDC International for the last four decades, Li Tim has picked up a few things about aesthetics and design. He himself has worked on various design concepts as EDC International’s Business Development Director, a few of which are the Hyatt Regency in Kathmandu and the Park Hyatt in Ho Chi Minh.
With EDC International’s ethos of considering the environment wherever design is concerned, it isn’t at all surprising that Li Tim’s foray into the skincare business is also equally ‘natural’. The beauty of Paloma is that it highlights the land that it comes from and uses everything that can be harnessed from it to enhance your beauty. With each product it puts out, Paloma highlights the uniqueness of Southeast Asia and its biodiversity, giving its users a natural glow up.
Congratulations on the launch of Paloma this year! So, what motivated this leap into skincare? How did Paloma first come about?
I’ve been working for my family; with my dad, we do interior design. So, that’s exciting. But we came across — well, one of my business partners, Howie [Lee] knows our skincare formulator, basically. He’s a medical scientist; a PhD doctor, and that’s how we came about doing this. That’s how we got into skincare. But I’ve always loved skincare since I was in school. I had actually been incubating this for three years. We were making our stuff in Korea, even. We have a manufacturer there. And while we were testing, we had this guy tell us — this Paloma stuff was so much better than the Korean-made stuff. (laughs) And so we just had to go with this. That’s the whole idea of the brand, and the sort of ‘need’ to champion Southeast Asia.
Yeah, speaking of Southeast Asia, let’s talk a little bit more about Paloma then — I know that it’s very much nature-focused and all. What prompted that decision, and that aspect of Paloma?
Nature-focused in the sense that we want to highlight our land, and our home. So, our cultures whether it’s, like, TCM [Traditional Chinese Medicine] or TMM [Traditional Malay Medicine]. Just our influences from food or the things that we eat, like ulam-ulam or the fruits from our rainforest. I think it’s just so abundant. And it’s stuff that we don’t even know. Like the small things, I think it’s really interesting. So the plan, I guess, is to target the US market first. Because of the brand story. People love Asian things. (laughs) And no one is really representing us. People don’t really know where we are, you know. And I think for Singapore, the government does a great job at highlighting things, like its food. So we want to do that in our own little way through Paloma, I suppose. ‘Cause there’s just so much to highlight, honestly. It’s so interesting.
So, you’re definitely still kind of doing a lot of research into expanding the brand more, because you’ve kind of just started.
We just started, yeah. With our third product, I think it does solidify that brand story. There’ll be, like, some local herbs in there, roots and all of that. It’s really interesting and it’s medicinal, which is great.
How did you utilise your knowledge in aesthetics and business development into the brand?
Oh gosh, I think I’m a ‘creative’. I’m not really the best business person. (laughs) I don’t know, it’s my first anyways. But I do apply that to Paloma. Just… like, with hotels, for example, I specialise in hotels. We come up with concepts for the brands, things to sort of push them into the next decade, which is the lifespan of each property. And then until, like, a refurb or whatever, it’s a decade or less. So, kind of the same thing — just for myself now. You know, everything that I like is Paloma; the voice, the branding and stuff. In terms of product as well. Like, I really made it for myself. It’s applicable, the intent and the ‘creating things’ of it all.
How has it been for you to navigate the brand, especially the ‘business’ of it all?
It’s been really, really tough. I didn’t go to business school, you know. I have two great partners [Sheryl Oon and Howie Lee] and that’s the key, I think. She does everything that I can’t do, and I probably do stuff that she can’t. (laughs) So, it’s a good pairing.
What are some of the highlights of the things you have learned so far as a beauty entrepreneur?
Oh gosh, that’s a really tough one. (laughs) Everything! Every day, I’m learning. Like, whether it’s patience or just to, like, hang in there and just… bloody work, basically. It’s day to day, so I can’t really pinpoint.
And what are some of the challenges you would say? Especially in the beginning when you first started versus now as you’ve grown?
Getting the word out. I think marketing. Like, we’ve also never done that. With the hotel business, we also never did any of that, which is actually in fact such a blessing. Because it’s like, we work for these brands and you are on their list of approved designers. So, it sort of comes naturally after. We’ve never had to market it ourselves, you know. So, I think that’s the tough part, and it’s just part of the day-to-day learning.
You’ve mentioned that your plan is to bring Paloma over to the US. In a market saturated with various up-and-coming brands, how does Paloma set itself apart?
I think, right now, we are trying to capture our own community first because it all begins from here. But I would say also from feedback and just sort of, like, general interests that we’ve gained; the little that we have… the West really enjoys Asian things. And I think this is new to them. It’s also new to us, because even for us in our community, it’s things that people haven’t seen. Maybe not in the first two products, but that’s sort of what’s lined up. And just that it’s inspired from us, and it’s not like taking someone else’s culture to do something, you know?
What’s in store for you this coming year, outside of the brand?
I have no life besides Paloma. (laughs) That’s the honest truth. There’s only the three of us, so it’s like, all hands on deck. I think next year, I’ll have to spend some time in the US on the grounds, for Paloma. Little pop-ups here and there; trade shows, I suppose. So, that’s next.
