Rattan coat hanger

Title
Rattan coat hanger
Year/Period
c. 1953
Region
Singapore
Object Type
Dimension
Object size: 176.5 x 77.5 x 38.0 cm
Accession No.
2023-00069
Credit Line
Gift of the C.K. & S.Y. Kwok Family

This coat hanger was part of a set of furnishings designed for the living and dining room of the modernist house at 5 Camborne Rd. The home was a commission from the architect Ng Keng Siang by Lee Wah Bank for the family of its General Manager Kwok Chan-Kwan and his wife Tong Swee Ying. The clean lines of the piece reflect the furniture produced by modern designers in the United States in the 1950s, such as Paul T. Frankl, suggesting the adaptation of international interior design styles among the wealthy in Singapore. The coat hanger was designed by an American interior designer and made in a Chinese rattan shop on Victoria St, the site for many immigrant furniture makers particularly during the peak of the rattan industry in Singapore in the 1960s and 1970s.