We always develop our brand around the recognition and awareness of the local heritage of Melaka, Malaysia. The wood selected to create our artworks comes from either historical or traditional houses in Melaka and its surroundings, or from the seaside. Of course, we do not demolish these houses ourselves. On the contrary, we would prefer these houses to be well kept.
Local heritage of Melaka
The houses from where we reclaim materials are either colonial houses or wooden traditional Malay or Chinese houses. They are mostly scattered around the historical heart of Melaka, commonly called Chinatown, although its origins come from Melaka’s own cultural mix. You can find the traditional houses a little more in the periphery, in the kampung (“villages” in Malay, or districts), like Tengkera, Bukit Cina, Kampung Hulu, Kampung Jawa, Kampung Lapan, … but also in more outlying districts, like Klebang.
Melaka has an exceptionally rich heritage, thanks to its architectural tradition and successive waves of colonization. The oldest harbor of Malaysia always attracts foreigners who came to seek success or work, such as Tamils, Chinese, and Javanese. Its strategic position on the Strait of Melaka has allowed it to live happily thanks to foreign trade.
Europeans are not insensitive to its charm (I’m also talking about me ;-)), but they also see great potential. After 130 years of Portuguese domination, as early as 1511, followed the Dutch domination and the British colony.
To know more about Melaka and its heritage, discover the book Malacca Style, written by our friend Serge Jardin.
An heritage in danger
Perhaps because of my studies of History of Arts and Patrimonial Management, I find that Melaka is a jewel, a treasure which, during the last years, knows transformations that harm it more than valorizing it.
Although the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, its condition is deteriorating in favor of increased modernization and mass tourism.
The reflection of Sambal&Cheese about sustainability
We give this material a second life by recovering and reusing this wood. Our works are like relics of these abandoned and/or torn-down houses. We want to leave a perennial trace of this local heritage.
We create a memory in the pure sense, like a witness of memory, far from all the cheap plastic keychains and other souvenirs. Our artworks are witnesses of a past that the next generations may not even be aware of.
That’s why we decided to transform the reclaimed materials as little as possible. We do not add any color to it. We simply clean, treat against insects, and varnish the wood to nourish it and protect it. Sambal&Cheese makes its colorful wooden creations from reclaimed wood in its original state, by only cutting it.
Sambal&Cheese salvages wood from crumbling houses before they are completely torn down and replaced by condominiums. We save this material before it ends up being burned or eaten by termites. It becomes the witness of these old houses. We save the wood of several dozen houses over the past few years.
Our manufacturing process is sustainable. Also, it is what we wish for the future of our works. We want them to remain in the duration to testify as long as possible of the richness and beauty of Melaka. Thanks to upcycling, we wish to preserve a beautiful memory of its houses. They are symbols of a past at the doors of the lapse of memory. The houses where the wood came from were a place of residence for generations and generations. So we hope that our creations, furniture, and custom projects will stay for as long!
Every day, we learn more about sustainability and that’s what we focus on to provide sustainable, thoughtful art and craft that respects our past and our environment. Follow our blog to learn more.