Morning all. I guess that depends on what time you are reading this. Today, 2 October 2013 I took the time off to update this blog on a topic I find interesting. Each and everyone of us has something in our home that will be the center of attraction. For some it may be their blossoming Japanese Cherry Blossom (sakura) in their garden, others might be their koi pond while sipping on their evening tea, or maybe even their antique collection of rarities or Extra Super Huge LED TV, some their deluxe top notch kitchen (signature kitchen / aino) or it could be something niche or even small like a rare autographed book on your coffee table, a unique painting/portrait, an old clock and etc. I think you get the picture.
Celebs on the other hand with their quirks and eccentricities have a preference for the not so faint of heart...Mike Tyson had pet tigers (even white Bengals), Nicolas Cage on Castles, Shrunken Heads and pet Octopus and the list goes on.
What I would like to raise here is, what would the normal average Joe and people on the street like me or you want in their home as a conversational piece without raising your neighbors eyebrows yet you will become the envy of many.
Here is my two cents worth. An elegant coffee table. No! Not the usual rare wood or some metal art work made by a struggling artist but one made from an actual car engine. Note to readers... This is a guys and petrol heads thing. See the pic below to get an idea. If its good for Jeremy Clarkson on BBC's Top Gear, its good enough for me. Enumerated below are some pictures I obtained from the internet.
A real petrol head would adopt or extend his vision of the man cave to the bathroom as well and below would be the result...
As time goes by I would add some pieces from my home for sharing purposes. With that I hope readers would aspire to do the same and have pieces of items at your home that reflect your identity or highlights you that makes you unique and standout from the crowd. Cheers!
Illustrated in no particular alphabetical order would be some of my personal items / conversational pieces. They are not centered in a showcase or "almari" but scattered thought the house to be displayed and enjoyed by all my house guests.
Tibetan singing bowl. This is the genuine item. The forging process is done mixing numerous materials to produce a humming effect. Singing bowls produce harmonic overtones creating an effect that is unique to the instrument. The subtle yet complex multiple harmonic frequencies are a special quality caused by variations in the shape of the hand made singing bowls. The art of making singing bowls in the traditional way is often called a lost art, but traditional craftsmen still make singing bowls in the traditional manner. They are one of the longest made traditional objects still being made today. Note, this is not an antique singing bowl but one made during the mid 2000's.
Now this is an antique glass butter container. Made in England during the 1970's. Guess where it is located? Right. In my fridge to store butter. I pray it will go on lasting for years and all family members who use, use it carefully and diligently as its class and breakable.
Now this is a genuine piece of history. The plates from Federal Hotel during the 60's where Tunku Abdul Rahman dined. Located at 35 Jalan Bukit Bintang Wilayah Persekutuan, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, it was a place where TIME seems to stand still in the interior of Mandarin Palace and exuberant history since the hotel's opening in 1957. The interior decor of the restaurant has remained untouched and most of the artifacts, chinese antiques, carvings, pillars, paintings, furniture and fixtures handpicked and custom-ordered by hotel founder Tan Sri Low Yat have hardly moved from their original position where the business tycoon first placed them in 1957. Tunku had advised Tan Sri to have the hotel built quickly so that it could host the Merdeka celebration that year. The hotel, after much work, was completed on Aug 28, 1957. Atlas, the piece de resistance...the place used in the hotel during the 60's. And where is it kept? In storage for now. HA ha ha. Have not found a suitable location for it.
Now here's something nostalgic. Diners of kopitiam during its heyday (1960's to 1980's) would remember this tea set. Those were the good old days. No i'm not talking about the kopitiam (Hailam Kopitiam, Old Town White Coffee, Pak Li Kopitiam Benta Kaya and etc) of the present but the kopitiam of yesteryear (Ah Lai, Hui Mui, Sin Seng Nam, Yut Kee and etc. You will remember this tea set you would had engulf your coffee with a piping hot bowl of delicious curry laksa. Currently this set I have kept in storage and will be used when required.
Also have added to my collection, a Japanese Dragon and Phoenix tea set with geisha lithophane. Atlas, behold. This is a genuine set from the 1970's and not a modern reproduction. One way of identifying a genuine product is it will not be perfect and will be time correct based on the period of production. There will be hairline fractures and cracks in line with age of the item and also lumps in the ceramic. This will be due to the fact that during those times, they had not perfected the art of mass production in perfection. Hence no two sets are the same. Even in my collection I had noticed that they are minor defects from one cup and saucer to the next.
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