Page 6 - March 2017 Livonia Program

See us in the Atrium Booth 22
EXHIBITOR PROFILE
From the Moon to Mars.....land
By Lynn Evans
What a journey! This is the story of Frank Bhawnani born in
1941 in India (now Pakistan). Raised with his parents and grandparents, the family moved several times, finally settling in Poona near Bombay. After attending Cath- olic school until 1956, he left to join his father and brothers in Hong Kong where Frank attended school and began to learn the family business.
They had concessions on the American Military Bases In Japan and were selling ladies handbags, Sarees, Slippers, and Jew- elry. In addition they offered “made to mea- sure” suits from Hong Kong. Frank really got into arts and handcrafted items such as Linens, Jade articles, Cloisonné, Paint- ings, Chinese statues and museum quality Artifacts. It became a passion and in 1969 when the United States landed on the moon Frank named his business Moonland.
He married Hoori in India in 1970 and re- turned to Hong Kong where he had some
Frank and Hoori Bhawnani
military friends that had been posted from Japan to the Philippines. They invited him to come to the military base where officers’ wives had small gift shops selling primar- ily Capiz shell items from the Philippines and brass items from Taiwan. He intro- duced some intricate gift and collectible items from China, thus began his journey. He sold mass quantities of these items, in one of the most profitable of areas ever, the Philippine’s Subic Naval and Clark Air Force Bases. These were Frank’s bread and butter businesses. His growth reached as far as South Korea, Guam, Okinawa and Honolulu, all military bases of the United States.
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