Monday, October 11, 2004

Posted by Hello
This is part of my patio, in my small house, not far from center of the city...In this image is what we call here the 'kopitiam' table, that was once found in the coffee shops all over the country in the fifties till the seventies, it is a wooden round table with marble top...In those day if one frequent a coffee shop one surely be seated at this coffee table to have their morning coffee, to do lunch or dinner, it is a sight seen.... So at that time it was just one of the furniture of the day...It was imported from the Czech republic and China, probably the marble came from Italy....I grew up in a coffee shop, where there are plenty of such furniture around...We would do our homework at one of this....After we all had grown up and went on our own way in adulthood....I kept thinking of what has happen to those tables, on enquiring found that it is no longer in the shop and that it is out of fashion and soon these elegant tables were replaced with a more modern one....I kept searching and eventually found the top of one at my brother's house, left to rot in his storage area....I ask him to just let me have it, and he gladly give it to me, part of our dad's belonging when he operate the coffee shop....It is indeed nostalgic to me...It bring back memories of my childhood, where I use to help serving customers in the shop....With the Marble top, I then got a friendly carpenter to do the table, thus the table that is seen in this image is created....With four chairs that I bought recently [makes just like the old imported one] it were just a perfect match and there set elegantly my 'kopitiam' table, where at time we sat to have our coffee or tea with friends of just us.....This furniture is making a come back now, this time in rubber wood and the Langkawi Marble, another Malaysian export to the world... But mine is different in that the top marble is special for it is from my great dad's collection of fine furniture....It is mine now and hope that it would stay in the family forever...A piece of history of our family....The 'kopitiam' table with its marble top....Elegant and somewhat a great piece of the works of arts, I love my 'kopitiam' table [kopi in Malay mean Coffee]...It is a piece of history to have and it touches everyone who see it and enjoy their cup of coffee/tea at this table...My friends that is life.... Enjoy....

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