Bought these beautiful postcards 12 years ago in Suria KLCC, a shopping mall inside the tallest twin towers in the World. Contrary to popular believes on ‘The Good Old Days Are Better’, I tend to disagree. Life is better now, not then. Call it what you want, the Islamic Golden Age, the Chinese Golden Age, the Spannish Golden Age and what not, truth is we as the average joe owns more stuff and have more liberty when compared to what the average joe had in those golden age.
Without further ado, enjoy these amazing watercolor paintings of the amazing British Malaya when it was under the British empire.
A Classic British colonial Style Mansion in Penang, Malaya
A Chinese Coffeeshop, Selangor, Malaya
Chinese Shophouses, Salak Sentuh, 1950, Selangor, Malaya
A Chinese Sundry Shophouses, 1950, Selangor, Malaya
A Corner Coffeeshop in Kuala Kangsar, Perak, Malayaa
Indian Coffeeshop, Negeri Sembilan, Malaya
A West Coast Malaysia Kampung House
“Traditional architecture is a result of man’s, elemental needs and his intricate relationship with society and the environment he lives in. In an era when the real world appears to sublimate into cyberspace, an explicit desire for a return to the past is perhaps understandable.” – William S.W. Lim
These are lovely, thanks! I hope you don’t mind me sharing your scans of the postcards you bought to my friends overseas via my own blog. I currently live in Malaysia, and grew up there. I’m not in the architecture field, but Louis Kahn is cool. Cheers and take care.
may i know what name of this shop .Thanks a lot
Name of shop?
Hye, great article, i too think that the best of both vernacular and modern should be combined. I’m studying abroad ( first year ) and ive until recently fell in love with our architectural heritage, being elsewhere do i realize how unique Malaysia is, in other words you read my mind with your article ;)
Cheers
Hi there! I love the article and also the lovely postcards you posted. May I know exactly where did u bought it? I m very interested in buying a set for myself! :)
Hi.. I love the postcards so much :) Can i know where to buy it because I’m collecting, and i love to get 1 set for me :) Thank you..
These postcards are lovely! I’ll be visiting KL in December and I’d love to know where exactly I can get these postcards (specific shop in KLCC? ^^). Thank you so much!
I also love postcards!
It’s hard to find postcards now in store.I have to go to biggest bookstore if i want to buy it.
any idea who drew these post cards?
@abbyT – No idea. But I believe you can buy something similar from most MPH book stores in Malaysia. Usually the title of the book is ‘Sketches of Malaysia’ or ‘Sketches of Kuala Lumpur’ or ‘Sketches of Selangor’ and etc
Lovely postcard, can I know the name of the shop, to buy the postcard
I bought these postcards 12 years ago. I think it can only be found at tourist hotspot such as Melaka City or Maybe KLCC tower. I believe they have similar books, I think the author of the postcards release a very thick book on his sketches. you can check out MPH bookstore.
To everyone, I’ve jist bought a similar collection of postcards in Kinokuniya bookstore at SURIA KLCC.
Can someone please identify the artist? All I know are the initials “J W” and that these post cards were made in 1999.
No idea who drew those but I won’t be surprised if JW published a few books, check out the nearest bookstore or search online for such books.
Did anyone come up with any leads for ‘JW’? The work is amazing.
These postcards are lovely, thanks for sharing on blog. Is there any publisher name at the back of these postcards? It may helps others to find and ask whether they still printing these postcards for sale~
Thanks, these are great and really does give you a sense of the old days…..