Celebrate Heritage! Hidden Retreat The Road ... - The Expat Group

shopping
Rustic Heritage
IF YOU’RE SETTING UP a home in Penang or just want that special piece to
complete a room, one of the best places to find the furniture you need is Rustic
Heritage in Tanjong Tokong. Set well back from the main road with ample
parking, the shop has original antiques and reproduction Asian pieces as well as
contemporary furniture and objets d’art. The shop is the brainchild of John Tay,
who set Rustic Heritage up in the late 1990s with his sister Bibie. “I buy and she
sells,” he explains, smiling, “but it’s sort of in the blood, as our parents had a junk
shop in Chulia Street when we were children.”
John used to be purely an antiques dealer until he started bringing in Indonesian
furniture to complement the older pieces. “I concentrate more on Thailand and
China these days, as the quality is higher and my customers are discerning, being
both local and expat.” Everything is handpicked and John doesn’t believe in sets,
preferring the unique, original look of one-off pieces.
There are Buddhas from Thailand, teak chairs and tables, cabinets, and gorgeous
Peranakan red and gold carvings. You can spend as little as RM10 on a silver
carved lotus stick from Thailand – or rather more!
A lot of recycled wood is used and combined with edgy fittings. John points to a
coffee table, where above the base of stainless steel sits a craggy indented piece of
old withered elm. It’s delectable and it’s bound to be the heritage of the future.
Rustic Heritage; 515k, Jalan Tanjung Bungah, 11500 George Town; 04.899 6844;
www.rusticheritage.net.
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