Malaysian-born father strikes gold with Rainbow Loom in US

Family dream: Ng Cheong Choon (second from right) created the loom to impress his daughters Teresa (far left) and Michelle (far right), and convinced his wife Chan Tyng Fen to invest their savings into the business.

A Malaysian-born father invented a loom to impress his daughters and started them on the adventure of turning a simple idea into one of the most popular crafts in the United States.

MAKING skipping ropes from rubber bands was something engineer Ng Cheong Choon remembered from his childhood. But when he tried to join his daughters in making bracelets from rubber bands, he found his fingers had grown too big.