BEND, NOT BREAK

Rattan, a name given to over 600 species of climbing palms, is often tied to nostalgia. One Singaporean artist strives to challenge this perception

- SNG LER JUN

Detours can be a meaningful thing. They can lead to unusual finds, unexpected encounters, and sometimes, entire lifetimes of work. Singaporean artist Ng Si Ying, also known as @atinymaker on Instagram, did not proactively seek out rattan as her medium of choice. Instead, she argues that it found her while on a detour to Bukit Merah, on the southern side of Singapore, in 2017.

“I was at Chun Mee Lee Rattan Furniture, one of Singapore’s oldest and surviving rattan shops. My friend wanted to buy some rattan furniture, and I tagged along,” recalls the 32-year-old. There, she watched an elderly shopkeeper painstakingly restore an old chair, weaving strips of cane with the quiet precision of someone who had done it all her life. It was a dying craft, she was told. “I asked her in Chinese: ‘Would you be willing to teach me?’ And she replied: ‘Nobody wants to learn.’”

Ng says it took three visits before the aunty relented, allowing her to sit by her side and observe. The first few lessons went slowly. She would begin a project only to return and find that the aunty had finished it for her. “One fine day, she said: ‘You do it all the way. I will not help you.’ It was a rattan chair that required restoration. That was the first piece I actually completed. I was quite proud of myself.”