Singapore jewellery brand Mondays Made wants to be the next Charles & Keith

SINGAPORE – The runaway success of Mondays Made is proof that coaches can, in fact, play.

In just two years, the local jewellery brand started by two former mergers and acquisitions advisers from Big 4 accounting firm KPMG has produced $5 million in annual sales, and grown from an online operation into two mall kiosks at The Centrepoint and VivoCity. A third at Takashimaya is slated for April.

In December 2025, Ms Sheaufen Tay and Ms Sharlyn Koh cut the ribbon on their first boutique in Hong Kong – a pastel playground of pinks and blues at the buzzy K11 Musea mall.

It is an enviable trajectory informed by the pair’s past careers helping local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) divest to bigger international firms.

In an interview with The Straits Times, Ms Tay says: “We met a lot of different towkays (Hokkien for bosses) – C-suite people who had a lot of business knowledge and managed to grow their businesses from very small to (one they could) sell for $30 million to $50 million.”

Somewhat modestly, she concludes that her more than 10 years in the gig, and Ms Koh’s six, “probably” sharpened their commercial wits.

That entrepreneurial towkay spirit rubbed off on them too.

“Corporate work was very enjoyable; it wasn’t a push factor,” she clarifies. “We just wanted to do something a little different. After talking to businessmen for so many years, there’s a little part of you that wants to try to do something too.”

Building on their strengths for the label

In true Singaporean fashion, the former colleagues were mutually impressed with the other’s work ethic, and having both reached a certain level of professional success, began to wonder what was next.

Ms Tay, 40, left KPMG first, taking a Covid-19-era detour into selling jewellery on Facebook Live that alerted her to demand for the kind of chirpy bling Mondays Made now specialises in.

At its peak, the business brought in $30,000 to $40,000 a stream, but in late 2022, she began to hanker for a new project – something she “could build”.

Then she remembered the promising doodles of her junior, 32-year-old Ms Koh, glimpsed from office birthday cards. She proposed a coffee catch-up and, by that night, the two were business partners.

A little over a year passed before they launched their label in February 2024, in which they tied up loose ends, conceptualised their venture and used their SkillsFuture credits to learn jewellery design.

However, Ms Tay is quick to add, their true education lay in the post-launch trial by fire.

They soon worked out that Ms Tay excelled in ideation, while Ms Koh, a natural with the pen, could draft designs that Ms Tay would eventually piece together.

Now, the brand’s carved sunflower necklace ($139) is its all-time bestseller. A charm of that bloom hangs off a chain of 18K gold vermeil, hand-carved from mother-of-pearl, with a smoky quartz stone and symmetrical diopside leaves. “A lot of people know us as the sunflower brand,” says Ms Tay.

They have since added lily and hydrangea options, as well as a birth flower series (from $65) that is the brand’s top-performing collection. All are carved based on the 3D drawings of Ms Koh, in the cheerily girlish style that is a hallmark of Mondays Made.

Its reversible jewellery is another popular pillar of the demi-fine brand – earrings, necklaces and bracelets that can be worn two ways.

A cloud necklace ($139) features a doodle-like cloud charm with one white face and one stormy black. Whimsy is balanced with practical accents, such as its nifty adjustable chains with magnetic closures that can secure dangling ends.

A pragmatic streak undergirds the steady growth of their outfit.

Having advised successful SMEs for years, the pair knew a prime location for their first store was a must. So, despite an early offer not two months into their launch for a Centrepoint unit on the second floor, they waited for a more advantageous spot at the atrium to open up, in the centre of the mall.

Says Ms Tay: “We’ve seen so many food and beverage players’ profit and loss statements. You can see that if you’re in a good location in a good mall, even though the rental is expensive, it is a lot more profitable than being in a super cheap one.”

They also knew a physical shop would boost credibility, even if sales were mostly online. Sure enough, business picked up considerably with the opening of the first kiosk.

They were in the black by the end of the first year.

Going international

Then came the coup of a collaboration with US-based influencer Miki Rai, who has some 925,000 Instagram followers. The collection co-designed with her sold out within 30 minutes of launch in May 2025.

It was another feat of patient foresight. Ms Koh and Ms Tay had begun courting her around June 2024, sure that her positivity and authenticity matched their branding. They were just as keen on the 29-year-old’s American fan base.

“We always wanted to make it an international brand. If you look at our website, a lot of people can’t tell we’re a Singapore brand. We deliberately try to be more global,” says Ms Tay. This meant building up a Singapore base of customers before beginning to market into Malaysia and Hong Kong.

The collaboration with Ms Rai gave them a toehold into the US, but since then, wary of US tariffs on imports, they have expanded e-commerce outreach into Australia, Canada and the Philippines.

Overseas sales now account for the majority of their revenue, though Singapore remains the biggest single market.

Hong Kong was an easy choice for their first overseas shop. Reconnaissance at a major Hong Kong jewellery fair had confirmed the uniqueness of their designs, the regulatory landscape is similar to Singapore’s and there were positive results from market testing, says Ms Koh.

The upscale feel of K11 Musea, located in the heart of Hong Kong’s Victoria Dockside art and culture district, was also a draw for the brand that is seeking a more premium positioning.

Since opening, they have been approached by “practically every single mall in Hong Kong”, says Ms Tay, chalking it up to a flagging retail scene and the relative scarcity of brands with an offline presence.

Though dreams of a US outpost have been put on hold, the pair still have their eyes on the prize of international expansion.

Their forthcoming Takashimya location was selected for its tourist footfall, says Ms Koh.

But the ambition is not to be another Lovisa, the mass-market jewellery chain from Australia.

Ms Tay says: “We always try to find where we aspire to be. We both came to the conclusion separately that home-grown footwear and accessories brand Charles & Keith was very inspirational to us, the way it has grown internationally.

“We will try our best and it is going to be a very long shot, but that’s the stretch goal.”