2010 Debut Collection

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls! We proudly bring to you Pestle & Mortar’s 2010 Debut Collection!

This series entitled “Kuala Lumpur through OUR eyes” sculpts landscapes of the most mundane things in your lives as well as ours bringing to you a whole new perspective, or at least a familiar one, of our culture and our beloved city!

These designs contain in their essence our everyday life and culture as Malaysians, presenting to you the good, the bad and the ugly, of our own city. Things that may sometimes not be the most popular or likened but at the end of the day remains a distinct fingerprint of our culture.

This is an on-going collection so be sure to stay with us to find out what we’ve got in-store (No pun intended) for you in the future!

We welcome and wholly appreciate all feedback on our designs, whether good, bad or ugly!

Ah Long

An “Ah Long” is the Chinese nickname given for a loan-shark. It’s common here in Malaysia to see stickers and flyers plastered over public phones, bus-stops, and even on the shutters of businesses and shops advertising no-questions-asked loans of any exorbitant amount to anyone. Business must be slow for loan sharks these days to actually be outright advertising.

Call-Man

The call-man roams our streets and highways of Malaysia in loud and modified cars prowling and awaiting the next traffic accident to work on. The call-man makes a living being the go-to guy for anyone involved in an accident, working out everything from the tow, right up to the day your car comes out of the workshop, for a small fee of course. You’ll often see 4 to 5 battling it out verbally for a customer.

Flats

Flats are low-cost housing very common in Asian countries that have minimal space and are usually dense and very compact. This leads to a lot of clutter and are usually very ill maintained in most aspects. The PEOPLE who dwell in such conditions are very neighbourly due to the extreme closeness of proximity in which they live in together.

Lorong Haji Tai?

If you’re Malaysian, or have travelled the back alleys of downtown Kuala Lumpur, you’ll know that Lorong Haji Taib is as upside down as this design. Famous for transsexuals and transvestites peddling their bodies on street corners for some spare change, it is definitely a nitty-gritty part of our city that not many want to be familiar with but is something that exist and is very real.

Telor Mata

The Telor Mata represents what we call our “mamak” culture. Mamak is a slang word used for Indian Muslims, whom commonly run restaurants and small shack like eateries on almost every corner and side street possible. The Telor Mata is one of the most common things you’ll find to complete any recipe or dish in a mamak stall. It really is just an egg, sunny side up. Simple yet iconic!