'I usually get up at about 8.30am. Because my son is still young, we also have to get up at around 3am, 6am and 7am to check on him for a few minutes and put him down again, so I am always keen to grab some more sleep for an hour or so before facing the day.
I am a lazy person. I would rather stay in bed than exercise, however I do occasionally go swimming in the summer months. I consider myself a free man after I get up, so I usually have a coffee then start a few of the more mundane tasks around the house, like cleaning, checking e-mails and calling people before finally heading off to work.
I open my antiques gallery at about 10am, which is very early in this business. Then I start on the important but routine things, like checking the mail, more e-mails, any deliveries of couriered items we may be expecting and making calls to various clients and suppliers. By the time I have done all of this I start to receive calls from dealers on the mainland or in the United States. I really enjoy talking to people, especially in the sourcing or pre-sales negotiation stages. These calls have been known to go on for hours.
After attending to things at the gallery office, on most days I will head over to my warehouse and workshop in Kwun Tong. I always enjoy the time I spend there. I started in this business in the 1970s by working for my father at the warehouse. It was great training in all aspects of the work and I particularly enjoyed learning the many techniques for restoring antiques to their former glory.
I have six permanent staff working at my warehouse and I regard them as the best in the world for high-quality restoration work. We have very long and detailed discussions before any restoration work is initiated and I tell them to work slowly and methodically in order to achieve the best results. I enjoy maintaining my connection with this side of the business and I still work on restoring pieces. Restoration is basically divided into two categories. For very good items, restoration is only undertaken after purchase and upon agreement with the client. For items that are of lesser quality or are looking a little rough, we undertake restoration prior to selling them. If I don't make it over to the warehouse in the early part of my day it is usually because other dealers have called in to the gallery to visit and talk about sourcing pieces. When that happens, I will make a point of calling the warehouse and telling the staff I will drop in on my way home. They are very enthusiastic and loyal, so they always wait for me regardless of the hour.
I used to travel to [the mainland] about once a month to source pieces and network with dealers, but nowadays, thanks to the internet, I can do much of the sourcing electronically; I can judge the quality of pieces on screen. Now I only travel there about once every two months.