The healing power of artistic expression

BUKIT MERTAJAM: Turning her grief into inspiration for making pouches, brooches and soft toys with items like single-use face masks, widow Pauline Khor has a knack for all things artsy.

The fashion designer and single mother found that handicraft was the best way to cope with the loss of her husband.

“He passed away in 2016, and it has been hard for my daughter and me to cope. I could not sleep, and the only way to cope was to draw and paint.

“I made small artworks of animals as they are fun to draw and required plenty of colour,” she recalled.

From the paintings, Khor went on to turn her artwork into pouches, which then inspired her to make keyholders with the leftover cloth she had from the dresses she made.

“After the pandemic, I realised how many face masks went to waste when they could be used as padding or stuffing material to give structure and thickness to keyholders and other handicraft items.

“So, now I collect single-use masks and use them as the inner layers for my keyholders, brooches and potholders,” she said when met at her design shop in Bukit Mertajam here.

Khor, 46, said she sterilised face masks to upcycle them, knowing that there was no way to recycle them.

“They provide good padding and support as inner layers of handicraft items.

“I want to be conscientious and reuse old materials whenever possible,” she said.

Khor, an architecture graduate, has always been inclined to tailoring, as it runs in her family.

“My grandmother and mother always sewed, so I learnt it from them and became a tailor 16 years ago.

“Then I started designing clothes and have travelled to various countries, including the Philippines and Hong Kong, to showcase my collections.

“However, there is a need for sponsorship and support to be able to travel for such shows.

“While I have been invited to showcase my work in New York and London, I could not afford the cost of travelling there as I am a single mother.

“I make ends meet with the sale of my dresses and these trinkets.

“I make custom-tailored dresses, especially the cheong sum, and these trinkets, including dolls and soft toys, that I sell at a pop-up market,” she said.

Khor hopes there will be more support for local designers like her.

She said she did this to also ensure her 13-year-old daughter would feel inspired.

“She helps me with my designs, so this is as much for her as it is for me.

“The pandemic hit her hard as she was still healing from the loss of her father.

“I built her a wooden doll house using my architectural skills. Then I made her the dolls for it.

“Now she gives me ideas and as she has taken to photography, she helps me when we need photos of my work.

“I hope to be able to do more work and expand this for both of us,” she said.