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A model student of history
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With King and Country's inception in Hong Kong, no one predicted its current global success. Almost 30 years later, it has hit its stride in the Alamo City.
As misnomers go, few could be as egregious as calling King and Country's product line toys. More to the point, they are collectible art and testaments to world history.
Laura Johnson, president of King and Country, could tell you quite a tale of these high-end period artifacts, and occasionally, she might even call them toy soldiers. But ask any of their loyal and demanding collectors and one realizes this is not child's play, but a lifetime devotion to obtaining entire series of hundreds of individually crafted pieces.
“Men will always want toys; what changes is how expensive they are,” quips Johnson as she recalls King and Country's long and steady climb to international acclaim.
In a former life, the Glasgow, Scotland native always was a small business owner. She applied extensive financial experience to an advertising firm in her early 20s with former husband and current business partner Andrew Neilson. When the duo sold it, it was the largest independent firm in all of Hong Kong. Neilson's career as a commercial artists would again be utilized, but not before the pair opened Mad Dog's Pub for English ex-pats in the city.
Lightning struck twice as it sprawled into six locations and was later transplanted in San Antonio at the request of B.K. Johnson in the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Yet gifts from Laura to her former Royal Marine husband precipitated the largest producer of toy soldiers in the world.
“Andrew's hobby was collecting toy soldiers and over the years, I would buy him these gifts,” explains Johnson. “It was increasingly difficult to get them since most came from the United Kingdom. The last time, I had to get on a nine-month waiting list. I thought there must be market in Hong Kong for them. So we started producing our own in 1983.”
Neilson took the creative reigns designing sketches, while Johnson maintained the business end. A small store in the heart of Hong Kong and several factories later, King and Country began supplying collectors while weathering growing pains like historical accuracy and perfecting how models were made. With new distribution points came clout.
It was then King's X in the historic Menger Hotel began to carry King and Country. Validating the sale of historic figurines only steps from the Alamo came by way of the last thing Johnson expected—a marriage to B.K. Johnson following a mutual spark during negotiations with Mad Dog's Pub. B.K. came from King Ranch lineage, a lore with which Laura was unfamiliar.
“We had started supplying King's X when some years ago, the owner wanted to sell,” says Johnson. “I was already living in San Antonio when he called and asked if I would like to buy the store. I had coveted that location since it was next to the Alamo. We bought it, kept the name and started selling King and Country exclusively. Our head offices are still in Hong Kong and that's where Andrew still works.”
For as diminutive as its 1:30 scale is, the six-month process to produce new lines include creative concepts to historical research to ensure accuracy. Master sculptors take the image and make three-dimensional models which are revised constantly. After much scrutinizing, production begins and it becomes the latest obsession for collectors. The Life of Jesus Christ, the latest series, is a recent example.
Summing up a journey which started with a hobby and an unlikely romance, Johnson simply declares well-tested wisdom of sorts.
“Everybody has opportunities, but not everybody knows when to take them.”
For more information on the King's X, visit http://www.kingsx.com.
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