KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 — A holiday is not only a time to relax and explore a new country and culture but it’s also the best time to hunt for treasures.
Former IT professional Qamarina Zainudin shops for unique homeware when she travels. She realised there was definitely a demand for items not stocked in Malaysia, like enamelware she found in China. With this in mind, she decided to kickstart her own business, selling the items under her own brand called Mareqeshi.
She named her company Mareqeshi after a city in Morocco that she loves. Her carefully curated collection of homeware includes ceramics, enamelware and kitchen storage items. The handpicked items are carefully selected by Qamarina for their quality, durability and aesthetics.
She has since quit her job to further pursue this business. Her husband works full-time and is very supportive of her decision.
“I started scouting for items when I was in China. I fell in love with the enamelware and I decided to bring in some to sell online as they are not in the market,” said Qamarina who sells her items on Instagram mostly as well as Facebook, Carousell (eBay-like app) and Mudah.my.
Apart from selling online, Qamarina is also at bazaars across the Klang Valley. Relying on social media and word-of-mouth, she is able to sell her products to a number of people.
Mareqeshi has been around for about a year and Qamarina enjoys what she does.”I wanted to try something different. In the future, I hope to grow bigger with more products,” she said.
For limited pieces, she would personally visit the country as part of her holidays. Recently, she went to Tunisia and brought back ceramics which sold out very fast. “I didn’t know that the response will be so good. It was luck, not knowing whether it may sell or not. You can call it a wild card of sorts,” she said.
Whatever catches Qamarina’s eye and is unavailable here, she will bring it back to sell. “My items are sold below market price because not everyone can afford novelty items. They are priced from RM10 to RM200.”
Usually, her customers vary from home owners, cafe owners to even people who are involved in the catering business. Unsurprisingly, most of her customers are women.
Sometime around last year, she rented a space at Markas, Kota Damansara. “It is a place to showcase my goods and for people to see the items. I plan to bring in more products including brands from the UK. Hopefully, one day I can create my own brand of products,” she said.
What you will notice about Mareqeshi’s curated enamelware is its durability. The quality of the enamelware is different from ones sold in the local shops, as they are thicker and the pieces are more uniform.
It doesn’t have any minor defects like some you find here. The colours are also unique. Enamelware that are sold in small towns across Malaysia are usually sourced from China. If you get them from a small town, they are usually priced very low but are not perfect with dents or even rusting sides.
As the pieces are aesthetically beautiful, they tend to sell out very fast. Recently, she participated in the Selangor Vintage Festival in Shah Alam. Apart from kitchenware, she also sells other houseware items such as doorknobs which are great for D-I-Y projects.
Some of the plates are so beautifully decorated that they are meant for hanging on the wall instead of serving food. Usually these are handpainted plates and are one-of-a-kind pieces so you won’t be able to find another similar one elsewhere in Malaysia.
On her Instagram feed, Qamarina also reposts photos of her customer’s plates which were bought from her. They will decorate the plates with food and other items, creating an amazing flat lay that gives ideas to interested buyers.
As the brand hopes to inspire people to create beauty in their home with their curated products, Qamarina would style the look and post it on Instagram to create an interest in her products.
Over the course of a year, she has amassed more than 2,000 followers on her Instagram account. She would often post photos of limited items on Instagram and these would be snapped up like hot cakes.
Find out more on www.instagram.com/mareqeshi or head on to:
Markas
68-1, Jalan PJU5/21,
Kota Damansara,
Petaling Jaya,
Selangor
