Assessed supplier has been assessed by giving buyers in-depth details and authoritative information about suppliers for free, to help buyers source smarter and safer.“Nowadays when we drive on highways we don’t see this side of life, these interesting characters. I was wondering, are they still there or have they moved on? We often bypass these people and don’t realise they are there.” Kenny Loh had just come back to Malaysia after almost twenty years when he got the idea for what would later become Born in Malaysia. Struck by the changes in his home country, he decided to document ordinary people, many working in trades that were in danger of disappearing. “I met these people – barbers, people making tin cans by hand, and I realised this is a spectrum of what Malaysian people are,” says Kenny. Now published as a book, Born in Malaysia contains over a hundred photo portraits. Collectively, they show the diversity of our country through its many faces: joyful, stoic, hopeful and serious.

The project was supposed to take ten months; in the end it took three years. Kenny travelled to all parts of Malaysia, without a set plan, just talking to people and hearing their stories. “I would drive for hours and then go by boat for to Sabah and Sarawak. But to do a book without the orang asli or tribes like the Kadazans wouldn’t have been real,” he says.clearance wing chair slipcover “I think most Malaysians are very hospitable people. jacobean dining chairs for saleWhen I was in Kota Bharu, I was invited into Malay homes when people saw me taking a picture. massage chair rental calgaryAnd there was a Kedai Runcit guy in Pahang, every time I visited him, he gave me something to take home. chair cover hire rochdale

Most subjects became friends.” Not wishing to intimidate his subjects, most photos were taken with a small camera like a Fuji X100 and a Nikon D4. “I pretty much used any camera I could lay my hands on,” Kenny laughs, adding that it was very different from his commercial shoots. For the books, his notes were reworked by writer Tan Joo Lee and the photos arranged by designer Allie Hill.salon chair price in chennai As Kenny sees it, Malaysian heritage is not just old buildings and artefacts but people, and we have far more in common than we might think. best office chair for hip flexors“We all work hard, we want to give our families a better life. This book is about these unsung heroes. These are not celebrities but simple Malaysians.” Interview by Ling Low Chan Kin Wah, second generation watch and clock repairer, Melaka.

This was one of Kenny’s most memorable encounters: “I love the watch repairer because he’s preserving our heritage. He had something to say: I repair old watches, why can’t we repair old buildings the same way?” Nur Azmina Burhan, professional hairstylist and volunteer with PERTIWI, Kuala Lumpur. Nur Azmina gives free haircuts to the homeless, accompanying PERTIWI volunteers when they venture out to distribute food in KL. Goh Kwooi Thai, Diva, Chinese Opera Troupe, Ipoh. “Madame Goh was apprenticed to an opera teacher in Kuala Lumpur at the age of 14. She recalled how according to custom, the teacher first had to ask permission from her parents.” Muhammad bin Rosli, Emok bin Rahmat, Jericho a/l Jamal and Razis a/l Jamal, Tras, Pahang. Kenny met these children when visiting an Orang Asli village with NGO workers from SEMOA. SEMOA (Strategic Education Methods & Ongoing Advancement) is dedicated to running schools for Orang Asli children. Thirunavu Karusu a/l Krishnan, second generation barber, Ipoh.

Thiru remembers Kenny as a young customer. “I used to have my hair cut at Star Salon as a boy, sitting on a smooth wooden plank placed across the armrests of the barber’s chair. Today, that barber shop is no more.” Eu Yeok Siew and Low Teng Lei, proprietors, and Karen Choo, manager, of Ren i Tang in George Town, Penang. These hoteliers have breathed new life into an old building: “This graceful building once housed Yin Oi Tong, which was established in 1796, making it South-East Asia’s oldest Chinese medical hall.” Mohd Rudin Sulaimeen, proprietor, Kedai Kopi Din Tokyo, Kota Bharu. “71 year old Rudin is the teh tarik maestro. He has been holding court in his coffee shop, standing behind his unusual U-shaped counter for over three decades.” Wong Chor Lum, owner, Cheong Lee Sundry Shop, Bukit Koman, Pahang. For over 100 years, this sundry shop has been the mainstay of the mostly Hakka community in the neighbourhood. It still uses old fashioned scales. “Mr Wong’s niece, De Yi, is the fifth generation of the Wong family to grow up at the back of the shop.”

Hariz, Nurul Iman and Nurul Nayli Alya. These are Pok Hassan’s grandchildren. Pok Hassan is a fourth generation boat builder from Pulau Duyong, Terengganu, a group “renowned for building beautiful seaworthy crafts completely by hand and without any formal plans.” All photos courtesy of Kenny Loh, with extracts from Born in Malaysia. strong is now available in MPH bookstores. Find out more about the project here. Read this next: Photo Feature: Take a Seat Read this next: Photo Feature: Vintage KL More from Poskod.MY: Photo Feature: Wish You Were HereThe truth is, Barbers aren’t a 20th century invention, it existed since the beginning of civilization. The profession has long history full of personalities, culture and heritage, some of which may surprise you! Don’t take our word for it, read it and judge it yourself. In addition to their main job responsibility of hair cutting and shaving, barbers were also entrusted to perform bloodletting and leeching (a process where blood are drawn out to cure diseases), fire cupping and enemas.

That’s not all, there were also the dentists of the era! As barbers were also surgeons, the colors Red and White represented blood and bandage. In the past, bloodied bandages were rolled onto the pole, thus creating the barber’s pole. The blue color came in much later when barber shops emerged in the USA. These days the barber’s pole is used to signify a barber shop as well as a visual cue to attract attention to a barber shop In ancient Egyptian culture, it was believed that the hair was the physical representation of peoples’ thoughts. Cutting the hair was a way of getting rid of evil so the task is entrusted to the wisest of them all, the priests. Due to their spiritual and religious beliefs, they also performed other religious ceremonies such as weddings and baptisms. This therefore made them highly respectable individuals. You probably wouldn’t have guessed this. Urine was formerly used as cosmetics for the hair and ancient barbers used it as a staple for their customers.

Don’t forget to check with your barber before they apply any shampoo on you! The popular actor once worked in a barbershop called Modernistic during his teenage years. His main responsibility was to brush customers collar. It was also where he claimed that he learned a lot about acting there. The famous film star groomed hair for dead women before the were buried.  “What happens when you get old? And you want to have a nice hair do,” In the early 80s, rappers and hip hoppers were carrying the Hi Top hairstyle, it wasn’t until the mid of the 1980s that rappers Schooly D and Doug E. Fresh invented the Hi Top with faded sides. Since then the fade gained mainstream popularity and have been a requisite for modern hip hop artistes. First started in the upper class stylish Mayfair, Truefitt and Hill began their journey in 1805. As certified by the Guinness World Book of Records to be the oldest surviving barbershop in the world, Truefitt and Hill now operates in 8 countries, Azerbaijan, South Korea, Canada, India, Thailand, USA, Singapore and Malaysia, offering professional haircuts and other grooming services.

They are also known for producing in house hair grooming products. There are schools and training centers worldwide offering courses, apprenticeships and trainings for cosmetology and barbering. While they do not come free, there are many institutions that also offer opportunities for scholarships and grants, all in the good name of the passion for grooming others. If you are passionate about this, start googling and applying! Designed for Pankhurst’s flagship store in London, this could possibly be the most expensive barber’s chair in the world. Upholstered by Bentley, which is known for it’s handmade crafting of cars, the barber’s chair bears the bentley logo on the the headrest. Only 6 of these bespoken chairs were made and available only in the outlet located in Soho, London. Whoever who have had the chance to sit on the chair must have experienced luxury for the price of £40. Ken Modestou who runs a barbershop in Mayfair, London was ordered to cut the Sultan of Brunei’s hair, in what is believed to be the world’s most expensive haircut.

The barber was given first class treatment as well, as he was flew in a Singapore Airlines flight and separated from all other passengers to ensure that he did not contract the Swine Flu (when the disease was at its height). Needless to say, upon reaching Brunei, everything was sorted out for him. The barber usually charges his clients £30 for a haircut in his shop, while the Sultan is one of the richest individuals in the world with a worth of more than $12 billion. The most expensive place to have your haircut would be in Oslo, Norway, where averagely a man would be paying $77 per haircut, as compared to the cheapest city to have your haircut in, which is Jakarta, which costs $4.50 a haircut. Talk about standards of living! A norwegian would have rejoiced the fact that he would have 17 haircuts if he spends $77 on haircuts in Jakarta. The second most expensive haircut would be in Copenhagen with an average cost of $53, which is more than $20 cheaper than in Oslo. We wonder what else do they do aside from giving a haircut to charge that much!