Design Enterprise » VOICES #2 : Dreambox

Neon lights just right inside of Dreambox.

Born out of passion, love and obsession. It’s always his dream to have a retail shop of his own that shares his love on Coca-Cola which better known as Coke. Being one of the largest Coke retail store in Malaysia, situated at Times Square, Kuala Lumpur. He has always hoped to meet other Coke fanatics of the product from the country. Here we would like to share with you how has the brand itself, changed the life of an individual and the people around him.

Collections from all over the world.

Written by : ManMeng/TuckLoong
Published : 26th April 2007

Dreambox’s collection.

DE : Design Enterprise
C : Cheong
Venue : Dreambox, Times Square, KL

DE : Mind to share with us what is Dreambox all about?
DE : 能和我们谈谈DREAMBOX 吗?

Memories that is grown together with Dreambox.
Wide variety of the brand to look at and appreciate.

C : I started this shop 3 years ago, and it’s something that I’ve always wanted to achieve. It was an entirely different shop compared to now that is only Coca-Cola’s Merchandise shop. Dreambox started off as a collector’s shop which hold a lot of toys. That includes Coke’s merchandise in it but with a very limited quantity and space within the shop. Although I have a deep passion and love for the product or brand but there is not much I can do since I’ve always faced with difficulties in finding these rare collections or items. But to my surprise, there are customers that continually support me in finding more items to Coke, and I’m so relieved that because of my determination, on 10th October 2006, the shop was once again launched to bear more than 2000 varieties of Coke products ranging from cans, bottles, posters to merchandises.

Christmas celebration edition from Hong Kong.
Coca-Cola Merchandise collections at DreamBox.

C : 三年前我已经开这间店了，前身为DREAMBOX MARKETING，店内初期以卖礼品居多，可口可乐收藏品只占小部分。那时经常局限于货源不足及断货的情形下，虽然后期可口可乐收藏品反应出乎意料的好，且广受收藏家支持，但是还是未能将可乐收藏的版图扩大。2005年机缘巧合下认识了目前也在国外经营可乐收藏专卖店的朋友，轻易解决货源不足的问题，而且也将全店转型升格为可乐收藏专卖店。DREAMBOX COCA－COLA COLLECTORS’ CORNER店内摆设近2000种世界各国不同种类的玻璃瓶，铁罐，海报和托盘等等可乐周边收藏品。是马来西亚规模最大和收藏种类最多的可口可乐专卖店。

More than 2000 collections here.
Cheong shares his passion on Coke.

DE : How do you come out with the name of the shop?
DE : DREAMBOX的名字是怎么来的?

C : I believe that every individual regardless of age, gender or race, has a dream of their own that always wanted to be realized. Because of that, I wanted to create place where they can find the dream of their own. However, I’ve also hoping that they can have a dream collection of their own at lowest price possible. Hence the name, Dreambox.
C :每个人都有自己的梦想，所以我希望这间店是实现每个人梦想的地方。

DE : What is the most unforgettable moment that you have encountered?
DE : 在营业期间，你最难忘的时候是什么?

C : I’m most overjoyed when I see a huge smile or laughter from my customer. I’d still remember once a teenager went around the city to find the rare and limited edition Coke bottle for his girlfriend and was so happy and speechless when he found it from my shop. It’s a satisfaction that can never be bought with money.
C :我最享受看见顾客找到他们心目中梦寐以求的可乐，那种感觉难以形容，客人还会很感激你，感觉自己好像一直在助人实现梦想。

DE : What encourages people to collect Coke products/merchandises?

Other type of merchandise that he collects and in the shop.
Cheong describe every history of the bottles to customer.

C : Usually, it can come to various circumstances on why people starts to collect these items. Some starts with Coke cans because it’s easier to find and widely available around the world. But there are some individual collect cans or bottles because of the typography uniqueness that varies from different country. There are even some fans that only collects special releases for a certain festival or those rare and hard to find anniversary edition items. To a certain extend, there are some only collect posters. So there isn’t any rules on what can be done.

Final Fantasy’s Limited Edition from Japan.
Special Limited release for Christmas.

Advertising posters from the old times.
Poker cards and toys.

2007 Chinese New Year Limited edition.
Thailand’s 120th anniversary edition for Coke’s factory in the country.

DE : 你能简略的告诉我们可乐的收藏家可分为几种吗?

C : 收可乐的人很多，但是收藏的种类也很多，刚开始收的可乐迷较多会选择可乐的铝罐，一来便宜，二来比较容易找；然后还有人专收文字玻璃瓶；圣诞玻璃瓶；可乐开厂玻璃瓶；可乐的广告画；可乐的装饰品等等。各种各样的，没有一定的标准。

Rare and historical wooden cooler.
Coke’s cooler radio fromo 1984.

DE : Mind to share with us on how to protect the cans or glass bottles?
DE : 能不能和我们分享如何保养可乐的罐和玻璃瓶秘诀吗?

C : I’ll start with how we can take care of the can. It’s a common problem faced by can collector that after a period of time any aluminum can will burst or have leakage. This is due to the chemical reaction that happens inside the can itself. Most of the time, the collector will decide to keep the beauty of the can by draining the remaining inside. But there are various way to do it.
C : 保养可乐的方法也是一门学问，铝罐的可乐含有二氧化碳，久而久之会产生化学反应，可乐可能会爆出来，或者流出，两者都有可能发生，通常收藏家都会取出罐内的水。取出铝罐里的可乐有很多方法，这里提到的有两个比较适用的方法:

(1) The easiest method of all is to make drain hole at the bottom of the can. But this method is strongly against by that avid collector which prefers to preserve its original look of the can without tampering any part of it.
(1) 在罐底开两个洞，但是对于一般比较挑剔的收藏家来说，这个方法比较不完美。

(2) The other alternative is to take the remaining out through the top of the can opener. By twisting the can opener backward, this will allow a small drain hole to be created allowing remaining to drain from there. By opening a hole for drainage, turn the can upside down to allow the remaining to drain slowly, and to increase the speed of draining, it’s best to shake the can on a vertical motion continuously, but beware NOT to put the can back on it’s normal state, because this will allow hot airs from outside to enter into the can which makes the rest of the water inside the blocked and hard to be drain! In case if you realized there are still small amount of the drink is left inside the can, you can dry it off easily using hair dryer or hot water poured on the back of the can to allow the water to evaporate as steam
(2) 铝罐的易拉头是可以转动的，只要稍微的转开，刺个小洞，不停的摇动瓶子，然后倒转铝罐把可乐弄出来，千万不要把铝罐再次倒转回头，不然空气进去后，里面的可乐就不会再流出来的，之后用吹风筒吹可乐罐底，那么就能取出完全取出里面的可乐了。最后用保鲜纸来包扎可乐罐表面，以免以后脱色。

Prepare a can of Coke.
Move the sideway.

A blade is required to make a mark on where you will create the pin hole.
Be careful while performing this steps.

Apple little strength into making the mark.
This will be just fine.

Next we will need a message board’s pin to create the hole.
Push the pin inward the mark.

Increase the strength gradually.
Be careful of applying too much strength might break the pin.

If needed, use a hammer.
Once the pin made it’s way inside, you’ll see bubble forming around pin.

Remove the pin and flip the can upside down facing the basin.
Shake the can gradually.

Shake continously until there is no remainings inside.
At this point onward do not put the can back on it’s normal state.

Wait until the remaining are entirely drained.
Clean the can with tap water.

Close-up look.
Close-up look.

Move the top of the can back in its position.
Clean with tissues or cloth.

(3) On the other hand, glass bottle is easier to take care which you can use any oil (cooking oils), to wipe the glass which will normally be stained with scratches over a period of time. With this, you will able to maintain it’s beauty for at least 1 year before cleaning it again. While for the bottle caps, apply a thin layer of transparent nail polisher to act as an overlay. It is widely available on any departmental stores. This is an important step to maintain the glass bottle’s beauty. This is due to a period of time, glass bottles that has unprotected bottle caps will have a thin layer of white particle formed on top of the drink which will look unpleasing which is normally caused by the rust from the bottle cap that is exposed to the open air.
(3)玻璃瓶相比之下虽然比较容易打理，但是也要有一定的保养。至于一些文字玻璃瓶，我们都知道都是循环的再用，所以它们的表面都会被摩擦的很难看，唯一能减少这种白白色的东西，其实很简单，只要抹上一层我们家里煮饭的食油就行了。由于空气中的氧气会和铁起氧化作用，所以玻璃瓶盖会生锈，只要在瓶盖涂上一层指甲的透明光漆就没事了。

DE : How do we identify the value of a glass bottle?
DE : 要如何分辨可乐的价值?

The Timeless Beauty.
Ice Cube Coca-cola fom Australia.

Different country, different taste, same love.
Greener glass = higher value.

Dated imprinted on the bottle.
Close look at the birth date.

Close look at the bottom of the bottle.
Thicker base also suggests a higher value for the bottle.

Close up.
Generic coke bottle you can find from Thailand.

Side by side comparison.
This bottle is produced in 1998.

C : You can know the item by it’s value through looking at the base thickness of the bottle at it’s bottom. We can also identify that it is valuable whenever the glass is greener. The date of production can also determine the value of the bottle that you can find on the lower side of the glass which it’ll always imprinted vertically. On the other side, limited edition bottles rarely have any dates onto it and don’t encourage refilling to maintain its value.

Enveloped and preserved, so that the beauty remains over a period of time.
It is worth R.M. 399.00 for this limited edition.

C : 玻璃瓶的底部厚度会告诉你他的价值和出生日期，也因此这样有出生年份的玻璃瓶通常都是循环再用的。至于全球限量版的可乐就没有出生日期，但是我们通常会看见”NO REFILL”的字眼。

Special Easter release from Australia.
Different design and colour of Coke’s.

DE : How about you? What motivates you to start as a collector and when?
DE : 什么促使你开始迷上可乐?

Marco is another passionate fan that shares his interest in Dreambox.
Kenny, an avid collector and a big fan of the brand.

C : Since 4 years ago, I’ve started to collect any items or products related to the brand. The name itself is so inspiring to my life because it reflects an image of being energetic and young. That goes back to 15 years ago, due to the love of brand, I even named my child after the product itself. Of course that decision itself caused a lot of disagreement between my family members especially my mother-in-law was filled in anger for weeks. It’s all fine now. Although I had a strong obsession on the brand itself, my real intention is to always hope my child will live up the name of Coke in Chinese which literally mean “Thirst For Happiness”, hoping that my child will always be happy and influence everyone around him. But of course I have once doubted that my decision will ruin my child’s life from other people making fun of his name. To my surprise, my child liked it so much that even though he is being made fun of the name since primary school, he thanked me for putting him in the spotlight all the time for the name. It’s a long time since then, he’s a grown to be a teenager now and I can never imagine I can now run a shop of my own that has a lot of my collections.

Special locker for customers inside Dreambox.
Whole lot of collections.

C : 我也没有讲什么情况下突然有兴趣，一直都觉得可乐给我的感觉很年轻很有活力，所以就这样的爱上了它，甚至到连我儿子的名都取名为”可乐”，我希望孩子以后能够每天都开开心心的过日子!。虽然我的岳母激烈的反对，但是我希望我的孩子能开开心心的过。在他求学期间，张可乐这名字给班上的学生和老师带来不同的欢乐，有天我问我孩子，你会怪爸爸把你的名字改为”可乐”吗?他很开心的回答我，张可乐这名很不错，好像可乐那样感觉很有活力以及很开心。15年前帮孩子取名可乐,15年后开了间可乐专门店.那可是当年意想不到的呢!

DE : What is the most valuable item that you’ve always wanted to have?
DE : 你觉得最难得到手的可乐是。。。

C: I’ve always wanted to have a look at all the promotional items or merchandises during the World War 2 period which there are no one has ever seen any series of coke available now. It’s a lost piece of gem that would be very rare to be obtained.
C :我想最难得到手又很想得到的可乐物品是在二战期间所卖的可乐，因为这时期的可乐没有人看过，就算没人要卖，我也想看看是长什么样子的。

DE : From your opinion, what would be the most valuable collector items that has ever been produced?
DE : 你认为最那个可乐物品最有收藏价值?

C : There are a lot for me to list it out here. And the value of an item varies from its history and the story of its origin. But there is a distinct one that an original collector can never miss, “The Royal Wedding, HRH The Prince of Wales Diana Spencer” limited edition glass bottle that was produced on 29th July 1981 to commemorate the wedding date of Princess Diana and Prince Charles. The beauty of the glass does not only lies on it’s outlook but because it also marks the start of a real life fairy tale that we have always dreamt it will only happen in story books. I believe that every collector that doesn’t have this in their collection couldn’t be considering him/herself as a true collector.

The priceless collection ever produced.
The one and only release that marked the one of the biggest history in life.

C :ROYAL WEDDING,HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES-DIANA SPENCER 可乐最有价值的地方是他的历史还有背后的设计与故事，简单来说，英国戴妃结婚庆瓶。这是我的至爱。请容我花多些文字来作介绍。1981年7月29日一个现代童话故事启幕的重大日子。王子和公主的婚礼举世属目。我们从小耳沾目濡的童话故事呈现眼前。英国可口可乐公司推出这个独一无二的结婚庆瓶，记录了戴安娜王妃传奇一生的起点。另人惋惜痛心的是，最终王子和公主无法幸福快乐的渡过一生。1997年8月31日戴安娜王妃车祸意外身亡。现代童话故事谢幕。这个当年推出的结婚庆瓶，留给我们美丽伤感的回忆和无名的惆怅。
有人说，可口可乐收藏家少了这支戴妃结婚庆瓶，就不算是真正的收藏家。也许，大家要的正是—-珍惜美好的回忆吧！

Limited edition for Diana.
Speacial cap for the Diana bottle.

This collection would worth more than R.M.500.00.
Top of the cap.

DE : What do you think is important for you and the shop?
DE : 你觉得你们最重要的卖点是?

Exchanging ideas and experience.
Cheong will share information that he know about the brand.

C : I feel It’s important for me to always treat my customer with the best service attitude, sharing with them any information about Coke that I know even if they are looking around. I hope by that everyone would get to know more about the brand and its history.
最重要的卖点是我们提供了世界各地不同的可口可乐的收藏品,还有我们的服务，分享我们对可乐的认识及交换对可乐的意见,对于每个顾客我们会分享我们的一切，我们的热诚。

DE : We would like to thank you for sharing your experiences with us and our readers.

Here are more pictures that we hope you’ll take your time to enjoy.

Coca Cola Coke UK Matthew Williamson Jaguar.
TIMELESS crystal limited edition.

Golden Bottle Coke for the Atlanta Olympic.
Some of the Golden Bottle for window display.

Them5 limited edition by 5 post-production from all around the world.
The 75th anniversay from Mexico.

FBI limited edition. Even the federals like it.
New BLAK with a taste of coffee.

Latest Coke Light design.
Miniature Coke.

Coke’s merchandise.
They creates more than just a drink.

2006 Argentina UniColor 4
Coca Cola Coke France 2006 World Cup Bottles

Coca-Cola from over the world
Coca-Cola that reserved by customer

Complete set of coke’s item.
Illustrative Art Coke from Belgium.

Flying Coca-Cola can
Some of the display set.

Argentina old historical set of 6. (75th anniversary)
Mini Coke.

Japan’s 30th aniversary of Coke.
France limited edition.

Malaysia Festival Celebration Poster.
Rare Coke Bottles.

Related links :

We’d hope you enjoy our second release of VOICES #DREAMBOX. Do leave us a message below if you like it and have suggestions on how we can improve. And if you have not read our first issue. Feel free to read it now. VOICES #1 NUTZ Cafe.

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