Whang Shang Ying

A former partner at Drew and Napier, Whang Shang Ying practised law for eight years before he decided to join his father in running Lam Soon - the company behind Knife brand cooking oil - which his grandfather founded in 1929. While law requires one to narrow in on a specialty, the 54-year-old finds the consumer business a lot more diverse and challenging. He joined the company in 1994, and is currently the Lam Soon Group's executive director.

He's also a man of varied personal interests from jazz (he reviewed music for The Straits Times under the name SY Whang) to art house movies and art in general, which he started collecting when he was in his 20s. He still remembers his first piece: a Chua Ek Kay cityscape.

Mr Whang - who is also a member of the Board of Advisors to the Asian Civilisations Museum - hasn't veered from his love for ink on paper since then. He decided to focus on collecting Chinese calligraphy rather than all kinds of art. He's currently showing 19 works from five artists who practise 21st century calligraphy at The Private Museum. This is his own collection, which he named the Nanshun Shanfang collection. It's the first time he is showing it publicly. The China-based artists in his collection include Wang Dongling, Sun Xiaoyun, Wang Tiande, Wei Ligang, and Guan Jun, and on view are their respective calligraphy styles, mostly breaking out of the conventional approach of Chinese calligraphy.