From cottage industry beginnings, Tai Ping has been at the forefront of innovation in its rise to regional heavyweight

KENT YEH REMEMBERS running around the Tai Ping carpet factory in Tai Po on Sundays, while his father met with the late Lord Kadoorie, one of the founders. He was a small child at the time, enchanted by the colourful showroom which attracted busloads of tourists.

'Forty years ago when Tai Po was still a fishing village, the bathrooms in our showroom were very modern. They had carpets. All the tourist buses would stop so passengers could relieve themselves and also do some shopping,' said Mr Yeh, now Tai Ping Carpets International's managing director. 'It was a gimmick. Even to this day, none of our showrooms are as nice as that one was.'

Tai Ping's present Hong Kong showroom in Times Square has computers which offer various interior options. Buyers can try out different designs and colours in an on-screen environment similar to their own home. There are stock carpets on display but most of Tai Ping's business is from custom orders.

Of their work, 70 per cent is from the hospitality and commercial sectors - including hotels, institutions and convention centres - and the remainder is high-end residential.

Tai Ping began as a cottage industry in 1956, when seven seed investors each contributed HK$10,000 to build a factory and employ mainland refugees. The idea was sound - hand-knotted carpets made in communist China could not be exported to the United States. They could just as easily be made here.

But it soon became apparent that Hong Kong's workers had less patience than their northern neighbours. Tai Ping was losing staff as fast as it could train them. A move to hand-tufting - where yarn is stitched on to a backing cloth - provided the initial production breakthrough.