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Community
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Stories of Vendors
Ronnie Ng, 44, is a Project Executive with a difference. His strong cultural roots and memories of his grandmother’s kitchen have inspired him to start a hobby which is slowly beginning to bring him the relief from stress which he sorely craves. “I’m from Klang. Mahathir said to look east and I came here to work in the commercial Air conditioning Business. I married here and here I now stay!” says this amazing craft person. So, does Grandma’s kitchen equate to good cooking skills? No way, Ronnie remembers his grandma hanging the eggs in this cool chicken wire container high above so that the rats could not get at them. He then proceeded to improvise and improve on the century egg basket using galvanized iron wires gauged 10 and 20. This new basket is an easy wash, hang and dry storage system, reminiscent of our past and therefore all the more desirable.
Ronnie has a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering which he has put to great use. He then took the basic design of the basket and used it to make other storage baskets in all shapes and sizes. Not satisfied with this, he dug back into his past and remembered the many trishaw rides he used to take back in 1989 when he first came here. “I used to ride the trishaw as I was fascinated by them. It became a favorite past time when I was single,” he said. Of course this translated into simple but beautiful sculptures of the Trishaw in galvanized iron wire.
This handyman who does his own home renovations and reads magazines on week end projects has 3 small children. One of his first hobby projects was to do a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost in miniature. “I couldn’t buy it so I decided to make it’, is his smiling statement. “I used my weekends to fabricate and the night time to work on my projects.”
Ronnie designs much of his own work and tries to use a lot of recycled material. “I use whatever remnants I can find from the sites where I work to come up with these items”, he explains.
Ronnie
will be at the Market in June to show off his wares and teach anyone
who wants to learn his trade. Written
and Photographed by Ambiga Devy
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Grandma's
Century Wire Egg Basket
His
models, baskets, lamps and candle holders are detailed and meticulously
done. “You can use chicken wire and it would be faster to make
but will have no fineness. So I twist and turn good quality wire, ensuring
that the end product will not scratch or hurt people or furniture.”
This is painstaking work and requires much time and energy