Some families may possess heirlooms handed down to them by their older family members who have since passed, such as peranakan beadwork or embroidered altar skirting. Over the decades, these items sometimes fall into disrepair. For those in the know, Jeffrey is the man they call when such precious and esoteric items need restoration.
Jeffrey shares that every old piece he receives for restoration is a unique challenge. Often, he does not know exactly what the problem is until the piece is fully “opened up”. This involves carefully unstitching the entire piece into smaller components, followed by assessing each section in detail. He compares the process to surgery – along the way, complications may arise, but Jeffrey always finds a way forward. He sometimes has to look for the same or the most similar materials and colours to match the parts which can be changed, or find an alternative solution.
Despite having restored numerous antiques, Jeffrey continues to relish every new challenge his customers bring. Although the work is complex, Jeffrey feels deeply for those who seek him out for his work, as “each item is a valuable and memorable piece [that] the customer hopes to save”.
To support the restoration of antiques, Eng Tiang Huat keeps a precious reserve of special crafting materials. From old textiles in rare weaves and colours to embroidery thread spun from real gold, many of these materials were obtained generations ago from retailers who are no longer operating. They are therefore some of the most period-accurate and authentic materials to restore historical pieces with, but they are also a very finite resource which, once depleted, cannot be replenished again.
While modern, cheaper substitutes do exist, Jeffrey hesitates to use them on historical pieces. Today, modern factories can effortlessly stamp gold-coloured foil onto backing sheets by the square metre for use in gold embroidery, making them much more cost-effective to produce than authentic gold thread, which tradespeople used to make through a labour-intensive process of winding thin gold strips around a silk core by hand. Although Eng Tiang Huat also stocks these modern substitutes, Jeffrey always gives his customers a choice, and where possible, endeavours to keep his restoration work as authentic as possible.
Eng Tiang Huat is a veritable treasure trove of historical documents and records, maintained fastidiously over decades. Some of these records are more than a century old. Two of them, in particular, are original receipts for items that the younger generation rarely encounters – a vintage Singer sewing machine and a rotary telephone, both of which Jeffrey uses regularly in his shop. These receipts are just some of the many historical documents Jeffrey inherited when his father passed on decades ago. Meticulous in his duty, Jeffrey has carefully organised and preserved them. As a result, many of the documents, although yellow with age, have survived the intervening years in excellent condition, filed individually in plastic folders and stored away from heat and light.
Although Jeffrey can recall many stories surrounding some of these documents, the significance of others have unfortunately been lost to time. Yet every so often, when Jeffrey shows these ancient documents to good friends, regular customers, or heritage enthusiasts, someone will recognise certain fragments or characters, and help to shed just a little more light upon their past.
Eng Tiang Huat also repairs traditional Chinese musical instruments, and they display a collection of them – some hanging neatly in a row above a countertop, others leaning carefully against a wall. Many of these instruments are prominent in Chinese culture, such as the gǔzhéng (古筝, Chinese zither), pípá (琵琶, Chinese lute), and the èrhú (二胡, Chinese fiddle). But Jeffrey is quick to point out that there are several instruments in the shop which are almost exclusively associated with specific dialect groups. Many of these are so obscure that their names, once translated into Chinese, are rarely recognised by people outside the dialect group. As one of the only shops carrying such unique instruments, Jeffrey sometimes loans them out to performing groups looking to authentically recreate music from the past.
“Ang cai” (红彩, Chinese red door banners) are a distinctive element of Chinese culture, usually hung over doorways on auspicious occasions such as birthdays, weddings, or Lunar New Year. Jeffrey prides himself on crafting high-quality banners, a skill passed down by Jeffrey’s grandfather and parents to him.
The authentic manner of crafting these banners is a multi-step process. The cloth used must be cut precisely, as customers often specify exact measurements for good fengshui. Customers can also request for different colours, specific tassel shapes, and embroidery to cap off the ends of the banners, which Jeffrey then stitches on by hand. Finally, Jeffrey knots the banner to create large fluffy balls of cloth along its length. Although having two cloth balls is the tradition, more elaborate banners can feature up to six.
While mass-produced banners may be cheaper, they may not display the same quality of finish and are often not as durable in their materials and construction. As a result, families often have to replace them for every new occasion. Jeffrey, on the other hand, is confident that his handcrafted banners can weather half a decade’s use with no issues.
In the course of running Eng Tiang Huat, Jeffrey shares that he has seen champions of heritage emerge from all walks of life. Eng Tiang Huat has always stocked a rich variety of props and costumes for Chinese opera, but because consumer tastes have changed, demand for these items has dwindled over the years. In recent times, a new group of people have started coming to Eng Tiang Huat for these Chinese opera treasures: cosplayers. For them, Eng Tiang Huat’s items can be used as accurate and detailed references to base their original costumes on, or as the perfect pieces to complete their wǔxía (武侠, Chinese martial arts fantasy) or hànfú (汉服, traditional Han Chinese clothing) outfits. Given the difficulty of finding such rare items, these cosplayers have come to depend upon Eng Tiang Huat, and are in turn a breath of fresh air for our heritage.
