It started out as a mixture of interest, passion, and to some extent too, dissatisfaction: That there was no product on the market that quite met the high expectations of the team when it was still running its detailing business.
And so, as Jia Hong, the head of Artdeshine, tells us: "We took the matter into our hands". The past decade has thus seen the company go through progressive phases of growth - from getting to the bottom of how car care products are made, to finally arriving at a formula that it could say it was proud of.
These bottles are shipped all across the world! To date, Artdeshine has developed a strong international fanbase of its brand, spanning Southeast Asia to America.
The common thread running through all the car care products (including its revolutionary Nanographene Coating) that arrive on these varied shores?
They're all made right here in Singapore.
The ascent into international manufacturer and exporter: From Asia to America
Amidst the multitude of disassembled cars, laid bare in front of workshops at iSpace Singapore, you wouldn't expect it, yet here it is: The beating heart of Artdeshine's border-spanning business.
Part of Artdeshine's incredible growth has been its transition to more automation and machinery Stepping into the manufacturing facility is fascinating for multiple reasons. One, it almost feels like you've entered a secret science laboratory-cum-factory; formulae are scrawled in ink across a multi-meter long whiteboard while human-sized tanks stand in another corner.
There are also a couple of long machines that you'd expect exactly from a company doing mass production - one for packaging, and another for bottling products like the company's nanographene coating. This wasn't always the case for the company, which started out with more rudimentary, manual processes of mixing and packing. Today, however, it has progressed to relying on both automation as well as more heavy-duty machinery.
The team still conducts training sessions regularly, in response to demand from an ever-growing list of merchants keen to use their products Secondly, of course, is the fact that these products have a worldwide reach. In a matter of weeks, the bottles here will have flown all around the world - to mega-auto markets like the U.S.A., regional hubs like Taiwan, and even faraway countries in the Baltics like Latvia and Lithuania. Interestingly, it was in the U.S.A that Artdeshine found fans first before brand awareness developed inwards towards Singapore, showing how successful its reach has been.
Today, Artdeshine maintains a presence in over 80 countries, where more than a 1000 professional installers use the brand's products. As a result of their dedicated and successful pivot to focus on manufacturing, the company also no longer provides the detailing services that it started out with. Nonetheless, training sessions are still conducted with some regularity thanks to demand from the ever-growing list of merchants keen on using their products.
Fuelled by an insatiable hunger to innovate and collaborate
The Artdeshine name has shifted from 'detailing service provider' to 'manufacturer' today 'Manufacturer' feels like an almost overwhelming label to slap onto any company - one thinks of gigantic names like the century-eclipsing SONAX, for instance - but that's the undeniable status that Artdeshine has earned for itself with the business it has built.
In spite of its small team size, a strong reason why the brand has managed to achieve something like this is because of the wide-spanning network of partners that it has painstakingly built and sought out.
Firstly, the team is constantly in conversation with its worldwide network of installers - in turn, in conversation with their international customers - providing an invaluable feedback loop that has helped enrich Artdeshine's product range.
Actively collaborating and experimenting helps the company stay comfortably ahead of the curve But perhaps more interesting is another group of collaborators that is arguably unique to the company. Working with governmental and educational partners is not common among merchants who provide car care products, but pursuing precisely this route has helped the team rise above - and stay ahead - of its sea of competitors.
For instance, Jia Hong asserts that Artdeshine would not have achieved the present level of quality in its revolutionary Nanographene coating - now already in its third generation as "NGC V3" - if not for the time it spent co-experimenting with the researchers of the Republic Polytechnic School of Applied Science. Tapping on Enterprise Singapore-subsidiary, Innovation Partner for Impact (IPI), was a crucial first step towards establishing this powerful connection.
Speaking of NGC V3, Artdeshine remains proud of the fact that it was the first company to tap on the capabilities of graphene to develop a coating, and then bring a working product to the mass market.
The NGC V3 product builds on the firm's proprietary formula to better protect against water spots Based on the theory of corrosion resistance, this compound graphene-based mixture created by Artdeshine is both versatile and durable in preventing paint blemishes - or what many know as water spots - boasting even more hardiness than run-of-the-mill ceramic coatings.
In the tropics, intense rain followed by contaminants like dust and then harsh sunlight is frequent; in temperate regions, the lack of cloud cover increases the amount of UV exposure; and in regions with snowfall, salt is used heavily to de-ice roads.
Unbeknownst to many, all of the above scenarios unfortunately accelerate the deterioration of a car coating's water-repellent properties. Artdeshine's NGC, however, thankfully works as an antidote by significantly slowing the corrosion down with a resistant, advanced polymer formula.
The end-game - planting Artdeshine's (and Singapore's) flag in every country
Jia Hong and the team are determined to plant Artdeshine and Singapore's flags in every car market in the world Most businesses would understandably be quite proud - and satisfied - with already having a border-transcending clientele. While this much is true for Jia Hong and his team, they have their sights set still on a larger goal: To plant Artdeshine's flag in every single country where cars are driven and car care products are in use.
Hearing this for the first time may take some aback initially, but understanding that Artdeshine operates based on all of the above - in other words, a collaborative and innovative spirit, as well as a sense of realism combined with ambition - makes it clear how exactly how the company intends to carry its name into the mouths of even more customers around the world.
Till then, its products will continue to speak for themselves: With their unique, unparalleled and ever-improving capabilities.
And so, as Jia Hong, the head of Artdeshine, tells us: "We took the matter into our hands". The past decade has thus seen the company go through progressive phases of growth - from getting to the bottom of how car care products are made, to finally arriving at a formula that it could say it was proud of.
These bottles are shipped all across the world!
The common thread running through all the car care products (including its revolutionary Nanographene Coating) that arrive on these varied shores?
They're all made right here in Singapore.
The ascent into international manufacturer and exporter: From Asia to America
Amidst the multitude of disassembled cars, laid bare in front of workshops at iSpace Singapore, you wouldn't expect it, yet here it is: The beating heart of Artdeshine's border-spanning business.
There are also a couple of long machines that you'd expect exactly from a company doing mass production - one for packaging, and another for bottling products like the company's nanographene coating. This wasn't always the case for the company, which started out with more rudimentary, manual processes of mixing and packing. Today, however, it has progressed to relying on both automation as well as more heavy-duty machinery.
The team still conducts training sessions regularly, in response to demand from an ever-growing list of merchants keen to use their products
Today, Artdeshine maintains a presence in over 80 countries, where more than a 1000 professional installers use the brand's products. As a result of their dedicated and successful pivot to focus on manufacturing, the company also no longer provides the detailing services that it started out with. Nonetheless, training sessions are still conducted with some regularity thanks to demand from the ever-growing list of merchants keen on using their products.
Fuelled by an insatiable hunger to innovate and collaborate
In spite of its small team size, a strong reason why the brand has managed to achieve something like this is because of the wide-spanning network of partners that it has painstakingly built and sought out.
Firstly, the team is constantly in conversation with its worldwide network of installers - in turn, in conversation with their international customers - providing an invaluable feedback loop that has helped enrich Artdeshine's product range.
For instance, Jia Hong asserts that Artdeshine would not have achieved the present level of quality in its revolutionary Nanographene coating - now already in its third generation as "NGC V3" - if not for the time it spent co-experimenting with the researchers of the Republic Polytechnic School of Applied Science. Tapping on Enterprise Singapore-subsidiary, Innovation Partner for Impact (IPI), was a crucial first step towards establishing this powerful connection.
Speaking of NGC V3, Artdeshine remains proud of the fact that it was the first company to tap on the capabilities of graphene to develop a coating, and then bring a working product to the mass market.
In the tropics, intense rain followed by contaminants like dust and then harsh sunlight is frequent; in temperate regions, the lack of cloud cover increases the amount of UV exposure; and in regions with snowfall, salt is used heavily to de-ice roads.
Unbeknownst to many, all of the above scenarios unfortunately accelerate the deterioration of a car coating's water-repellent properties. Artdeshine's NGC, however, thankfully works as an antidote by significantly slowing the corrosion down with a resistant, advanced polymer formula.
The end-game - planting Artdeshine's (and Singapore's) flag in every country
Hearing this for the first time may take some aback initially, but understanding that Artdeshine operates based on all of the above - in other words, a collaborative and innovative spirit, as well as a sense of realism combined with ambition - makes it clear how exactly how the company intends to carry its name into the mouths of even more customers around the world.
Till then, its products will continue to speak for themselves: With their unique, unparalleled and ever-improving capabilities.
