A photo showing the factory of Island Paint Company

The photo shows the factory of Island Paint Company Limited which was founded in 1938 by Ng Chak Man. The company first set up a factory on Lau Li Street, Causeway Bay which had an area of more than 8,000 sq. ft. During the Second World War, two branch factories were set up, one on Kwong Wah Street and the other in To Kwa Wan, Kowloon. Island Paint Company Limited manufactured ship paint, building paint, synthetic enamel, varnish, lithographic and letterpress printing ink. These products were marketed under the brands of Speedboat, Iron Bridge and Motor Car and mainly exported to Canton, Macau, Shantou, Taiwan, the Philippines, Singapore and Bangkok. Similar to other paint manufacturers, the founder Ng Chak Man earned his degree in chemical engineering from an overseas university. He studied in a provincial university in Washington and worked in a paint factory in the U.S.A. after graduation. He returned to China in 1932 and founded the Tung Yung Paint Manufacturing Company in Canton. When Canton was occupied by the Japanese in 1938, he moved to Hong Kong and founded the Island Paint Company Limited.