Malaysia is known for a tradition of woodwork & wood carving, and a trip to the Far East would not be complete without a visit to the home grown industries in my country of origin. In between the whirlwind of wedding festivities, we've managed to visit a furniture retailer, the workshop of a local designer maker, a carving school (Desa Ukiran Kayu) and the workshop of a well-known local craftsman (Tunjang Bakawali).
The grounds of the carving school were replete with examples of the craft practiced here - and they were even kind enough to let me try a hand at the fret saw! It was interesting to see the different tools used here, eg the carving chisels, and to take note of the ones which were the same. In our brief tour, we discussed the use of different local woods (meranti, merbau, balau, chengal etc) & their different properties - did you know that chengal is very seldom exported because it warps & shrinks easily if the humidity decreases? Well now you do!
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| Carvings along the outside of the Desa Ukiran Kayu building |
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| The building itself is a great testiment to the craft being taught at Desa Ukiran Kayu |
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| A selection of local carving chisels (or "pahat" in Malay) |
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| The students hard at work at Desa Ukiran Kayu |
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| The carving school has its very own George the cat, not unlike Chippendale |
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A look of intense concentration
I also loved our visit to Tunjang Bakawali. The craftsmen there were super friendly, and kindly took the time out from their busy schedules to take us around their workshop & show us their craft. Interestingly, whilst they used some modern equipment (eg routers, jig saws), they've also customized a lot of it because it's not up to the intricate standards required for their work.
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| The workshop at Tunjang Bakawali |
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| Imagine trying to rout that! |
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Hubby adding scale to a piece |
On a more exciting note (for me anyway), the hubby and I (yes, Hubby!) have been bashing our heads together and thinking about setting up shop collaboratively once we're done with our wee jaunt. It's going to be an interesting time once we come up with a new concept - change is in the air, so watch this space (or a different iteration of it) for more news in the offing!
Ta,
Mae & John
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