Meet Yeow Liang. Print is often viewed as a traditional industry, but for him, it has become a platform for innovation, sustainability and entrepreneurship. As the driving force behind Allegro Print and its growing family of brands, he has continually looked beyond conventional printing to uncover new opportunities, creating solutions that serve both customers and the wider community.
From custom wallpapers and sustainable stationery to supporting self-published authors, Yeow Liang’s journey demonstrates how curiosity, adaptability and a willingness to embrace change can transform challenges into new business ventures. His story is one of listening closely to customers, responding to market shifts and finding value where others see limitations.
What first inspired the founding of Allegro Print in 1999, and how did it eventually grow into five different brands?
Allegro Print was founded by my wife while I was still working at SingTel, where I spent over 10 years in the corporate sector. She saw an opportunity to start her own printing business and launched it with five former colleagues, four of whom are still with us today. I joined the company in 2010 and have been helping to grow the business ever since.
Our expansion into five brands happened gradually. LayerPlay was launched in 2018, while the COVID-19 pandemic prompted us to rethink our business and explore new opportunities. This led to the creation of OFFCUT, Oolors and All-Book-S between 2020 and 2021. Each brand was developed to address a specific market need while building on the capabilities and resources we already had.
What has been the biggest challenge in managing five connected yet distinct brands?
The biggest challenge is maintaining focus.
Although all five brands are related to printing, they operate from the same production floor using the same team and equipment. The difference lies in the products, ranging from wallpapers and books to stationery and publishing services. Each brand has its own identity and customer base.
As a business owner, I constantly face decisions about where to allocate limited resources. Should we invest more in Allegro Print, LayerPlay, Oolors or another brand? Every opportunity appears promising, but our budget, manpower and time are finite.
Balancing financial resources, human capital and marketing efforts across multiple brands requires discipline, focus and careful prioritisation every day.
LayerPlay began from a client request for a wall mural. What did that moment teach you about listening to the market?
Many printers would reject requests outside their expertise because they lack the knowledge, materials or experience. However, I learnt that opportunities should not be dismissed too quickly. Instead, explore the possibilities, speak with suppliers, do the research and be honest with clients. When we received our first wallpaper request, we admitted we had never done it before but were willing to give it a try.
That willingness to experiment became the foundation of LayerPlay. Wallpaper printing introduced us to the interior design industry and a completely new customer segment. By listening to customers and staying open to unfamiliar opportunities, we discovered a blue ocean market.
While many wallpaper suppliers simply import and resell products, and most printers focus on materials such as vinyl, fabric and canvas, we bridged the gap by offering customised wallpaper printing. It showed us that listening to customers can open doors to entirely new growth opportunities.
OFFCUT transforms leftover paper into stationery. How did that idea first come about?
The idea came from a sense of discomfort. In the printing industry, leftover paper is unavoidable and is typically sold to recycling companies. However, because Allegro Print uses premium designer papers sourced from Europe and Japan for galleries, museums and high-end publications, discarding them always felt wasteful.
For years, we reused these paper offcuts as notepads for friends, family and our children. During the COVID-19 lockdown, we began exploring how they could be transformed into something more meaningful. With sustainability becoming increasingly important, we created products from these leftover materials and launched them without knowing how the market would respond.
To our surprise, the products became highly popular, particularly among younger consumers who appreciated the sustainability story behind them. In 2021, Offcut won the Singapore Good Design Award for sustainability and later received recognition at Japan’s Good Design Awards in the stationery design category.
What started with around 10 designs has since grown to more than 100, turning what was once considered waste into a successful and sustainable product line.
All-Book-S supports self-publishing creators. What problems were authors and creators facing that led to its creation?
The idea emerged from our work with independent publishers and self-published authors. Many wanted to print small quantities of books, but while printing more copies would lower the cost per book, they often lacked storage space and effective distribution channels.
We realised we could help. As a printing company, we already had storage facilities and an existing Shopify e-commerce platform. This led to the creation of All-Book-S, a platform dedicated exclusively to books printed by Allegro Print.
Through the platform, we provide short-term storage, online sales and promotional opportunities at events such as the Singapore Art Book Fair and National Library exhibitions. It gives local authors greater visibility and access to a wider audience, including international readers.
We have even seen overseas customers discover and purchase books from multiple Singaporean authors through the platform. By bridging the gap between printing and distribution, All-Book-S helps local writers gain exposure that would otherwise be difficult to achieve.
What do you think makes a good entrepreneur?
Firstly, entrepreneurs must be curious. You should never assume that your industry is limited to what it has always been. Instead, ask how you can create additional value from what you already do.
Secondly, listen carefully. Understand your customers’ challenges and find ways to address them within your capabilities. Many of our brands were created because we paid attention to customer needs and identified gaps in the market.
Thirdly, integrity and trust are essential. For example, through LayerPlay, we collaborate with more than 80 artists from around the world, including countries such as Estonia and South Africa. These artists trust us with their artwork and rely on us to report sales accurately and pay royalties fairly.
Without trust and integrity, those partnerships would not exist. Reputation is built over many years and can be lost very quickly. For any entrepreneur, integrity must be non-negotiable.
What is your vision for Singapore in the next five years?
Singapore is a small market, but I hope it continues to be a place where small and medium-sized enterprises can thrive alongside larger corporations.
Singapore does not lack creativity or innovation. However, smaller businesses are often constrained by market size and resources. I hope we can foster stronger collaboration and build communities that support value-driven businesses.
I would like to see a future where craftsmanship, creativity and sustainability are not merely fashionable concepts but practical and viable ways of doing business. I hope more creative entrepreneurs will have opportunities to showcase their work and contribute meaningfully to society.
If you could have a superpower for one day, what would it be and why?
I would choose omnipresence.
Managing five brands, serving as Vice-President of the Print & Media Association, Singapore (PMAS), leading responsibilities within my church community and attending numerous networking events can be incredibly demanding.
There are always clients to meet, operations to oversee and decisions to make. Being able to be in multiple places at the same time would make life much easier.
I would also love to have a super memory and exceptional decision-making abilities. Those would certainly help when managing multiple responsibilities simultaneously.
Connect with Yeow Liang: AllegroPrint, LayerPlay and Oolors.
