PHUKET personality, Ian Potter, started out as an apprentice engineer with a company in South East England dealing in control systems and made his way into the sales department, but by the age of 26, was ready for something new.
The company offered him a sales manager’s role in Hong Kong and the young Potter jumped at it. He left cold and gloomy Britain for the warmth of Asia and never looked back.
He stayed in Hong Kong for six years, during which time he used to regularly fly to Phuket to participate in the King’s Cup Regatta.
“I remember sitting in Jimmy’s Lighthouse one evening, looking out over the bay and thinking this wouldn’t be a bad place to live,” he said.
“I never dreamed for one minute I would actually end up here.”
In 1992, Ian was transferred to Singapore where he worked for a lighting company until the Asian economy crashed in 1997.
Ian and his then girlfriend, Sutisa, took a year’s sabbatical and came to Phuket.
They both fell in love with Phuket and bought seven and half rai at the end of a muddy track up in the hills behind Chalong Bay.
They had seen an old house
in Ang Thong, near Ayutthaya, and they bought it, had it dismantled and transported a thousand kilometres to Phuket, and rebuilt it.
Ian planned on doing nothing for a year, but within the space of three weeks, he was bored.
In May, 1997, he started Andaman Lighting, which he now runs from an office on Chalaumprakiat Ror 9 Road.
Sutisa, originally an interior designer from Bangkok, operates the Little India restaurant near the entrance to Laguna in Cherng Talay.
Ian and Sutisa were married in one of the Salas in the grounds of their house in 2000 and now have three young children.
“What I love most about Thailand is the freedom it gives me to do what I want,” said Ian.
“We have three lovely children, and Sutisa also works, so we can afford good staff to look after the kids when we go out.
“Phuket allows us the flexibility we want in life and of course, a wonderful lifestyle.”
Ian’s love of children led to his continued involvement in charity, and he raised a lot of money for the Child Watch Phuket organisation.
His latest venture is renovating his Riva boat in the Boat Lagoon.
Riva boats have been built at Sarnico, on Italy’s Lake Iseo since 1842, and are now regarded as one of the world’s finest motor boats and are owned by movie stars and millionaires around the globe.
Ian said restoring his boat was a daunting task.
“It has three Chevy engines, so it has three sets of dials on the dashboard and they desperately needed an overhaul,” he said.
“I found a place in UK who could do it, so I boxed them up and sent them off, but they came back with a note saying that they couldn’t do it.
“I found another place in the USA and sent them there. This time they tried to keep them and I had to send a friend over to get them back.”
Ian has finally managed to get the dials overhauled and has moved on to the next task.
His dedication to perfection has no doubt been his secret for success and he is passionate about Andaman Lighting and will talk about it for hours.
“Lighting can completely change the way you look at things,” he said.
“Being able to highlight, augment, enhance or even disguise objects and artefacts is a powerful tool.
“Proper lighting can also produce wonderful three-dimensional illusions, and it affects the way people feel about their environment.”
He is also excited about his latest Phuket-based venture, a ‘single-button’ 24-hour help line called EasyLink.
“We provide peace of mind in the home for everyone,” he said.
“If you need help, you just press a button and it’s there.”
Ian plans to stay on Phuket as long as he can.
“We are very fortunate to be able to live here and we shouldn’t take that for granted,” he said.
“I don’t like it westerners who continually moan about things. They need to look around and see what they have before complaining.
“Thailand belongs to the Thai people, not us. Let’s just enjoy it.”