As Suanie Sees It

Last Tuesday, we were invited to the launch of Royal Selangor’s Autumn 2007 Collection. To cut a long story short, the Royal Selangor dudes really know how to throw a party!

Now on to the long story…

The party was held at the Royal Selangor Visitor Centre in Setapak. Initially I was a bit hesitant to go, because Setapak is like Cheras to me; multiple roads leading to unfamiliar places that would give me panic attacks. Luckily Mack sat in my car, and he knew how to get there, so we ended up reaching the place on time.

The party, Turkish-theme

A guide took us on a short tour around the Royal Selangor factory, where we were shown tools of the pewter trade. There were a few ladies demonstrating how they make pewter ware for Royal Selangor; very, very impressive and I have mucho respect for the people who work at Royal Selangor after the tour. If I were to make a single pewter flask or whatever, I would have long trampled it on the ground because… well patience is not my forte.

Here are some of the new Autumn ‘07 designs, photos from the press release then butchered by my amateurish (lack of) photoshopping skills.

The Arabesque collection — a collaborative effort between Royal Selangor and the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia

New Asia designed by Eric Leong, KU range in conjunction with Malaysia’s 50th Merdeka Day, limited edition of PLUS

Himalaya Wine range, Greek-inspired Isthmus, classic Palladio of the Renaissance

You can get these and other lovely pewter ware from any authorised Royal Selangor dealers, as well as from their website. BTW I think their visitor centre is quite worth a trip… so here’s the address:

Royal Selangor International Sdn Bhd
4 Jalan Usahawan 6, Setapak Jaya
53300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: +60 3 41456000
Fax: +60 3 40251389

Once you are near the area, there are signboards leading to the visitor centre. Should be a breeze to locate.

The party started with Mr. Yong of Royal Selangor (yes I know there are many Yongs.. just can’t remember which one ) giving his welcome speech. Then a belly dancer took centre stage…

There were other belly dancers too, but I liked this one the most, as her performance was more ‘natural’, IMHO.

The buffet was awesome too… nicely roasted lamb, beef, briyani with mussels, humus, couscous, kebabs, lamb/mutton curry.. topped with free-flowing red and white wine and cocktails mixed from Bombay Sapphire. I like. Was a ‘heaty’ meal though, so I was glad I didn’t fall sick the next day.

The Royal Selangor Visitor Centre has this School of HardKnocks — you pay RM50 to try your hands at making a pewter bowl, and at the end of the lesson you get to keep the bowl and a certificate! I thought it was fun, but I didn’t join in the knocking. Just didn’t feel confident enough that day lah. But the rest of the noobs did… Btw I don’t recommend doing this when you are plastered though

Photo by ST

Here’s video evidence… you can spot local model Bernie Chan two spots away from FA…

Kim, ST, FA and Mack made themselves a pewter bowl each!

Other camwhoring bits…

My big face with Yoon Kit and his lovely wife, Wei Kim! BTW thanks for the invite dude

Me and Kim!

There were a couple of ladies offering free henna-painting, so we all did it!

Me getting a dye job

What it looked like later at home, after peeling off the crust

Me and FA with henna-painted hands

Left at about 11 p.m…. had to work the next day mah… heh.. thanks for having us Do remember us come your Spring ‘08 collection launch, yah!!

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