IPOH, Aug 9 — It all started with a Ming Dynasty vase that socialite See Foon Chan-Koppen bought in the late 1960s as a University of Singapore undergraduate.
Socialite See Foon Chan-Koppen said Karachi in Pakistan provided the best purchases where the lanes offered tribal dresses from Afghanistan, jewellery of necklaces, bangles and rings. — Picture by Sylvia Looi “My mentor, Professor Willy Willard, who wrote and published a huge tome on the Art of Asia and was curator of the Art Museum at the University, used to take me to seedy hotels where dealers with baskets of Chinese export ware salvaged from sunken ships around Indonesia, hung out.” “It was a dazzling sight, the dealers lolling around in different rooms scattered throughout the hotel, their wares wrapped in newspaper.
“My work in the hotel industry would take me to many countries where we were looking for development opportunities. What fun and excitement I had wandering down narrow lanes laden with shops bearing treasures,” she said, adding that Karachi in Pakistan provided the best purchases. “At a time when I could not afford gold, the silver jewellery which I wore certainly drew many favourable comments,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.
“There are so many single mothers and B40 women who need our help. The plight of some of these women brings tears to my eyes,” she said, citing Kanagi, an abused orphan staying in an estate in Gopeng as an example.
Source: Education Headlines (educationheadlines.net)