VINTAGE LOVERS - CROSSING BORDERS, TRANSCENDING DISTANCE.

Dear All

Last Thursday was a tough one for us at SECOND CHARM, Singapore. We had simultaneous shipments of our vintage furniture, one arriving and one departing all in the same morning. It took us a bit of organization. The shipment from Kuala Lumpur and Malacca duly arrived in time. It consisted of fully restored pieces, most of them had been booked and ready to be delivered on the same day. We had to quickly unload them because another big lorry was waiting to pick up the unrestored pieces to Malacca and Kuala Lumpur.


The ones that just arrived were originally from Singapore. They have travelled quite a bit, crossing borders twice to meet the vintage demands of my Singapore customers. From time to time, we have quite a few regular Malaysian customers who would take the trouble to cross the border to see the Singapore shop, booking some pieces in advance before they arrive in KL, not wanting to lose out on some good and rare pieces.


Nowadays, it is easy for either sides of the causeway to enquire or book the vintage pieces in our shops, even before they are restored. This blog has made it possible. In fact, there were some pieces that were sold and delivered without us meeting each other in persons, merely by communicating via emails: Hayati, Ann and Cindy for instance.


Also I'm encouraged by visitors to the blog that come from all over the world. Apart from Singapore and Malaysia, the next biggest visitors come from United States, UK, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Spain, India, Asia Pacific regions and a few others. Since I started the blog at the beginning of the year, we had till this moment 15,590 visits to our blog. 34% constitutes return visits. 22 % constitutes those who spend between between 20 mins to longer than an hour at the blog. In fact 15% spent longer than an hour. I'm happy with the figures because I think it reflects the seriousness of those who love vintage furniture.

For the reasons above, I simply love the power of the internet and its ability to transcend borders and get us connected in matters that are close to our interests.

Below are some of the furnitures that have crossed borders to be with their vintage lovers.

Nothing beats furniture tastefully arranged and reflecting on the owner's fine individuality. Fiona Choy sent me this picture to share her happy buys of our vintage furniture. The 3-seater retro teak wooden armchair is from SECOND CHARM. The pretty blue, purplish fabric is a retro 70's. Also from SECOND CHARM. Fiona wanted a retro coffee table that matches her period living room set. Luckily we had one, as shown in the picture.

Noticed the 2 dining chairs with the Peranakan tiles in Fiona's lovely home. We had similar ones recently. I dont think they are old, but definately of teak wood. Mr Lee who bought them, has yet to collect.

Full view of the retro 1960's-70's sofa from SECOND CHARM that now beautifully graced Fiona's home. Love the vintage coke tray on the coffee table that she bought from us.

The retro 1960's teak dresser with bright blue vintage formica is also from SECOND CHARM, specially brought down for Fiona from Kuala Lumpur. Love the vintage dolls, thermos and the book on fairy tales which is part of Fiona's fancy for vintage stuffs. I feel as if all those collectibles and uniques were waiting for this dresser to make them feel at home. We have similar dressers in vintage pink formica if you like.

More vintage stuffs nicely displayed by Fiona. From time to time, similar vintage collectibles like the above, do enter SECOND CHARM.

A 1940's teak planter's chair reserved for Millie.

Daryl ordered the above handsome retro teak armchairs for his F & B outlet at Somerset. For easy maintenance, he requests for black PVC covers.

This 2-seater retro sofa, part of the set bought by Daryl is interesting, in the sense that it is detachable. One chair has only one arm and it is joined together with another to become a 2-seater. We have another similar set at SECOND CHARM, Singapore.

A pair of covers in brown PVC ordered by Daryl.

Vintage pink cushion covers from SECOND CHARM, also ordered by Daryl to add colours to his BLACK cafe.

A retro low book shelf that I helped Ting Hway to restore. The piece is hers. We keep the original brown formica on top of the shelf.

A retro 1960's -70's display cabinet. It comes with sliding glasses at the top and bottom. They were already packed for delivery to Ting Hway's new home.Though the piece is not teak, it is charming and worth restoring for its period and for practical needs.

Solid teak retro 1960's wardrobe, restored to a darker stains as requested by Ting Hway

The retro wardrobe came together with a matching Queen size bed, also in solid teak wood. These retro pieces furnished Ting Hway's guest room. We have lovely retro and art deco solid teak beds at SECOND CHARM, too

A 1920's teak marquetry glass display cabinet bought by Ali Millmohd, a fashion designer and fashion lecturer in one of the colleges here. Elegance and simplicity define Ali's creative works.
It is also reflected in his choice of furnishings.

The base of an old 1920's wardrobe converted into a table. The piece was Ali's. We only did the restoration for him. When we received the piece, parts of the wooden top was missing and so were the handles. We put in peranakan porcelain knobs for him.

A vintage 60's-70's single door glass cupboard owned by Ali, restored by SECOND CHARM. My restorer did a little modification on the legs as the original ones were broken rather badly.

A 1960's solid teak one and half door wardrobe beautifully restored for Cindy. This 4-ft retro piece is complete with a hanging section on one side, a chest of drawers on the other side, a full length bevelled edge vintage mirror and a vanity dresser's counter with another mirror attached. Why have a built in when you can have such an elegant piece in your bedroom.

An art deco teak 1950's one and half door wardrobe with lovely round bevelled edge mirror perched on a wooden stand. Bought my Mohd to compliment his art deco dresser that he bought from us a couple of months ago.

A retro 1960's chest of drawer, restored

Another retro 1960's chest of drawers, of slightly different design from the one above. But both have the characteristic pencil legs that defines the retro furniture of the 60's and 70's.

A 1950's low chest of drawers. Ideal for a bedside cabinet or for office stationery.

An art deco 1950's side coffee table. Smaller period pieces like this are quite difficult to get nowadays.

A chinese teak opera chest, beautifully restored. Makes a beautiful coffee table .

The inside view of the opera chest above.

So much for now. Till my next posting,

Warmest regards,

SHARIFAH
SECOND CHARM

Monday 2 August 2010, 2.47pm.

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Write by: Dj Ganden - Sunday, August 1, 2010