Up To The Mark

The French word marquage describes the art of literally making a mark. Three marquage artists here who specialise in painting on luxury goods tell us how they fell into this growing art, the styles they do best, and how they can help you make your leather goods truly your own.

- Rachel Tan

MIKI GAO, 28

@mikigao

While Gao has no formal art education, she has been artistically inclined since she was a child. “My younger cousins loved getting me to draw for them, and I’ve always enjoyed picking up hobbies like crocheting and jewellery making.”

She has turned that dexterity with her hands into a successful 13-year career so far, as a full-time hairstylist at Kim Robinson, and the go-to hairstylist for many local It girls and socialites.

If you have been following her on Instagram, you will have noticed that she is also an occasional artist who paints cartoon characters, animals, Marvel superheroes and the like on leather and canvas bags, pouches and cases – a hobby she picked up in 2013. “I wanted to find a passion outside of hairstyling. And I started to paint.”

Her first project wasn’t marquage. It was a mural on multi-label boutique Tribeca’s wall at Forum The Shopping Mall in 2013. Her dabbling in marquage only started the following year when socialite Jamie Chua, her regular client at Kim Robinson, entrusted her with her Birkin So Black bag to paint on. “I had never painted on leather before, but Jamie encouraged me to try. I made the mistake of using acrylic paint on it – not a good medium, as it gradually peeled off. I repainted it with leather paint a year later.”

She has since painted on one more bag and two leather jackets for Chua, and has more customers from the salon.