Royal Selangor is best known for it’s quality and beautifully crafted pewter products… it is also one of the world’s largest pewter manufacturers…
Pewter is an alloy made up of tin, copper and antimony… Tin is well known for its resistance to corrosion. Copper is a malleable metal which makes it easy to work while antimony is added to provide strength and together with the skills of craftsmen, beautiful works of art are created…
Royal Selangor was founded way back in 1885 by a young pewtersmith named Yong Koon who migrated from China to Malaya along with thousands of his compatriots to join Malaya’s tin rush…
A visit there to the Royal Selangor Pewter Factory and Visitor Centre can be pretty fascinating as we got a glimpse of some of Malaysia’s cultural heritage through the making of these pewterware…
The Royal Selangor Pewter Factory and Visitor Centre attracts about 200,000 visitors a year and once you have paid a visit there, you will know why….
On arrival you are assigned a personal guide who will bring you through the exhibits and mini museum gallery where you can actually see Yong Koon’s original smithing tools and personal items, as well as some of his original pieces while telling you about the history and some interesting stories…
We were also told the story of a lucky melon-shaped teapot that saved a man named Ah Ham’s during World War II. Ah Ham lucky teapot now is a valued antique collection at the museum gallery..
You can also buy the reproduction of this lucky melon teapot at the Royal Selangor Retail Store which in some ways can bring luck to its owners too if you want to believe Datin Paduka Chen Mun Kuen, who also happens to be Yong Koon’s grand daughter…
You can also see the world’s largest tankard, which can hold 2796 litres of beer, and a model of the Petronas Twin Towers building made up of 7000 pewter tankards…
…plus a wall of hands from workers at the factory who has worked more then 5 years…
The tour will bring you to a small demonstration area where you can see the experienced and skilled workers demonstrate how they prepare and create their pewterware..
From there you will find two glass fronted workshop, the Foundry as well as the School of Hard Knocks….
At the Foundry, you can get the opportunity to create your own accessory from scratch freehand.. The guide showed us how and it seemed so simple but we could not get it done perfectly….
The School of Hard Knocks is a much kind of simpler activity where you are given a flat disk of metal to first engrave with your name or initials…
Then with a wooden mallet and a wooden block with a bowl-shaped depression in it, you then have to hammer away on the disk until it is shaped like a bowl…
At the end of the session you can wrap your bowl in tissue paper and a lovely paper bag for you to bring home… You also receive a certificate with your name on it and you get to keep the apron that you used…
The Cafe at the Royal Selangor Visitor Centre do actually serves up some pretty yummy Cantonese Fried Noodles if after all the hard work you have done, and you are feeling kinda peckish..
And well, before you leave, do not forget to get some souvenirs or pweter to bring back with you… all the pewterware are all just amazing in detail and well worth the investment if you can afford it…
Address- 4, Jalan Usahawan 6, Setapak Jaya, 53300 Kuala Lumpur
Opening hours – 9.00am – 5.00pm, daily
(No appointments necessary unless registering for a session at the School of Hard Knocks and The Foundry)
For more information, please visit www.royalselangorvisitorcentre.com
Live Life Lah....... 