'Mini museums’ open in heritage shops in Kampong Glam district
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'Mini museums' open in heritage shops in Kampong Glam district
Mr Mohamed Samir Kazura and Mr Mohamed Jamal Kazura in Jamal Kazura Aromatics, a perfume shop in Kampong Glam with almost nine decades of history. (Photo: Jeremy Long)
SINGAPORE: Walking past a corner unit in Kampong Glam, visitors may catch a whiff of modern scents, but they might not know that the perfume shop - Jamal Kazura Aromatics - has been around for almost ninety years.
It was set up in 1933 by Mohamed Hanifa Kazura, who had migrated to Singapore from South Republic of india.
He travelled far and wide in search of wares to fill his shop, which used to militarist books, gemstones and perfumes.
He fifty-fifty journeyed to the jungles of Republic of indonesia and Papua New Guinea to bring back precious agarwood, which produces a resin that is valued for its fragrance when heated.
To this twenty-four hour period, agarwood is still one of the store's mainstays.
Such stories are being brought to life in a "mini museum" at the shop, displaying artefacts and photographs from the business organisation' history.
It is one of the seven shops in the historic Kampong Glam district that will have such displays, under the National Heritage Board'southward (NHB) Street Corner Heritage Galleries scheme, launched in the surface area on Thursday (Apr 22).
The scheme, a three-year pilot, was beginning rolled out in March last twelvemonth in the Balestier precinct.
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It volition be expanded to iii other historic districts - Picayune India, Kreta Ayer and Chinatown, as well as Geylang Serai - by 2022.
The scheme is function of wider efforts by NHB to foster a deeper appreciation for local heritage, nether its Our SG Heritage Program.
In Kampong Glam, the agency worked with heritage shops - all of which have at to the lowest degree iii decades of history - to dig upward bottom-known tales and interesting items from their by to brandish.
Visitors are not the only ones who would take learnt something new from the showcase.
Mr Samir Kazura, the third-generation manager of the perfume store, said: "When I was going through this process … I had to comb through our older stuff and plant out things virtually my belatedly grandfather - that he had been to places nosotros never knew he had."
The 37-year-onetime added that his granddad, who travelled on steam ships and soviet jets, had been to many more than destinations than he has.
Other items on brandish at the shop include old notes on perfume recipes, straight out of the notebook of Mr Samir's father, Mr Mohamed Jamal Kazura.
The showcase also features a stamp, dating back at to the lowest degree lx years, that was used for an insect spray the shop used to sell decades ago.
SHOWCASING HISTORIES
Other participating businesses range from eateries such as Sabar Menanti Nasi Padang, to shops that sell Muslim accessories such as 5 S S Varusai Mohamed & Sons.
At family unit-run Sin Hin Chuan Kee, which supplies sewing accessories, a display tells stories about the business' transformation since it was established in 1965.
A paper bag from the shop's early on days shows its erstwhile address at 47 Clyde Street, along with a four-digit postal code - now unheard of in Singapore.
Other artefacts include an abacus used past the store'south founder Mr Ng Koon Teng, who was an immigrant from Quanzhou, Red china.
It is the same abacus his children had to learn to use too, although his 58-year-old daughter, Ms Ng Geok Hong, joked that she could never main it.
The brandish also features brands of sewing threads and zippers that Mr Ng and his family unit had sought out in the 1960s and 1970s. These take since become cornerstones of their distribution business.
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Nearby, at famed tea stall Bhai Sarbat, a brandish recounts how a migrant from India, known colloquially as Firuz, started the business on a wheel rickshaw in the 1950s.
The shop'southward success is based on the popularity of pulled tea, teh tarik and its analogue that contains ginger, teh sarabat.
Its current owner, Mohammad Asgar, bought the business 3 years ago and has expanded the stall's drinks menu from 12 options to 120. He has even roped in his son equally a next-generation tea master.
READ: Bhai Sarbat - the story behind Kampong Glam's famous tea stall
Through the scheme, NHB hopes to involve traditional businesses in documenting and showcasing their heritage, said Mr Alvin Tan, the deputy chief executive of policy and customs at the lath.
He added that it hopes to create "unexpected heritage encounters for the public", as part of ongoing efforts to brand Kampong Glam more vibrant.
Mr Tan also said they want to get more than businesses in the area onboard.
Apart from providing funding and assist in building the showcases, NHB will likewise work with store owners to develop programmes such as talks, tours and workshops.
In improver, it volition give these business organisation owners the opportunity to take part in primal events such as the Singapore Heritage Festival, added NHB in a media release.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/kampong-glam-heritage-businesses-mini-museums-nhb-178176
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