Royal Selangor

Message

Standing majestically with its modern urban design, Royal Selangor Visitor Centre is the go-to place to experience pewter—both as a beautiful piece to be admired and as a craft, closely bound to Kuala Lumpur’s colonial past and kept alive through the passion and imagination of its artisans.
“We started the visitor centre in 2004 to share the story of Malaysian pewter crafting and how it became part of Malaysian history with locals and the rest of the world,” said Yong Yoon Li, Executive Director of Royal Selangor International. His great-grandfather Yong Koon started Royal Selangor in 1885 when the country was the world’s largest tin producer in the 19th century.

Service Contents

  

Museum Tour

Upon arrival, curious visitors are whisked into The Gallery by a friendly guide. The past in which tin was a prized commodity, the triumphs and challenges of Yong Koon and his family are revisited in startling detail — through the narration of the guide and displays of Yong Koon’s tools, his personal effects and pewter artefacts. The star of The Gallery is Yong Koon’s lucky teapot — an artefact which saved a man’s life.
“My grandfather’s teapot saved Ah Ham’s life. He was a villager scrambling for rice in the abandoned go downs during World War II when he spied something shiny on the ground. As he bent to pick it up, a bomb fell and shrapnel whizzed past his head. He was so stunned that he promptly took home the teapot instead of the rice, which earned him a scolding from his wife, I reckon! Since then, he considered it his lucky teapot.” explained Datin Paduka Chen Mun Kuen, the hearty granddaughter of Yong Koon who still mans the showroom today, sharing her family’s story with the visitors.
It was a while before her grandfather’s teapot returned home. Ah Ham finally relented and returned the teapot to the family. Today, it sits proudly in The Gallery while its descendants grace the homes of many tea connoisseurs.
Impossible to miss is the replica of the Petronas Twin Towers. Assembled from 7,062 Royal Selangor pewter tankards, both towers stand over two storeys high. Visitors also get a tantalising glimpse of fine sterling silver pieces in the Comyns Archive which also houses 35,000 patterns, drawings and moulds of the 300-year-old sterling silver brand acquired by Royal Selangor in 1993.
Following The Gallery tour, visitors are ushered by the guide directly to the factory, the heart of Royal Selangor’s brand of pewter crafting. Here, visitors acquaint themselves with the processes of the craft. The more adventurous are welcome to challenge themselves by hammering small uniformly sized dimples on a cylindrical pewter sheet, the same process used by Royal Selangor artisans to create the classic hammered finish. Once they are done, they are offered a privileged glance at the Royal Selangor factory floor where real-time manufacturing takes place. The tour also includes a brief look at the craft of fine jewellery by Selberan, another Royal Selangor company.

  

The School of Hard Knocks (SOHK) – RM65.00 per person, duration about 30 minutes

A short fun-filled half-hour session, the SOHK participant learns to create his or her own take-home souvenir, a pewter dish using traditional tools, similar to those used by pewtersmiths more than 100 years ago.

  

The Foundry – RM180.00 per person, duration about 1 hour

This DIY workshop enables the participant to make his or her own pewter accessory with a mould or freehand, using fundamental pewter crafting processes – casting, polishing and decorating. Only 15 years old or older are allowed to participate in this workshop.

  

The Cafe

Cafe at the Visitor Center will offer you Daily Special Lunch and delicious sweets. If you order hot tea, we will serve you with pewter pot which is our signature product. You can get experience of how long pewter can keep temperature. How about enjoy talk at our cozy café?

Company Information

Company Name/会社名

Royal Selangor Marketing Sdn Bhd

Representative Name/代表者名

No. of Employees/従業員数

Capital/資本金

Nature of Business/事業内容

Manufacturer, Gift souvenir

Tel & Fax

Tel :03-4145 6000
Fax :03-4021 4830

Website

royalselangorvisitorcentre.com

Date of establishment/設立年月日

1885

Address/所在地

4 Jalan Usahawan 6, Setapak Jaya, 53300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia