A Sampling of Crafts in Singapore

Singapore boasts a population that includes Chinese, Malaysian, Indian, Indonesian and British peoples, influencing an extraordinary abundance of handicrafts brought from nearby Asian nations.

The broadest selection of Southeast Asian handicrafts is available at the Singapore Handicraft Center (163 Tanglin Road). The center offers more than 30 shops and stalls that specialize in goods from Malaysia, China, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and other nations.

Items range from colorful batik fabrics to elaborately carved rosewood furniture, from lacquered chopsticks to silk flowers and from loose semiprecious gems to cutout paper shadow puppets.

The Handicraft Center, however, will be closed at the end of this year, when the building will be torn down for Singapore Tourist Promotion Board offices, and there is no plan to build another center to house the shops.

Here’s a partial list of the shops there now:

Natraj’s Arts and Crafts, an Indian shop, sells fabrics and masks, plus leather handbags and carryalls ($25 and up), small brass dress bags ($10) and sitars with mother-of-pearl inlay ($125 and up).

Carpets and Dresses

Chinese Carpets is the sole agent for Tianjin Junco wool carpets and Shanghai Pine & Crane silk carpets from China. The carpets come in floral and geometric patterns in a rainbow of colors.

Silk carpets (with 120 lines per inch and 2/8-inch thickness) sell from $30 for 1-foot-square silk to $3,240 for 9-by-12; wool carpets (90 lines per inch, 5/8-inch thickness) cost about $105 for a 2-by-3-foot carpet and $1,890 for a 9-by-12.

Krazjangan Malaysia Arts & Crafts sells batik sun dresses for $14, hand-dyed rectangular or square silk scarfs for $14 and cloisonne bangles for $3.25.

Henley Souvenirs & Gifts offers Chinese silk sleeveless shift dresses with floral prints ($27) and T-shirts with tiger or bird motifs ($9).

Ying Fatt Trading Co. features enormous earthenware elephants, lacquer ware screens, oversize palace vases, rosewood furniture and some unusual transparent cloisonne plates and vases (from $55 and up).

Assortment of Pearls

Super Star Jewellery sells seed pearls for $2 to $18 per strand and coral beads for $75 per strand, plus pearls (about $554 for a 16-inch strand of well-matched six-millimeter pearls, plus $25 to $35 for a gold clasp), and other jewelry.

Sarinah Jaya Singapore, an Indonesian shop, has masks, paper shadow puppets ($10 and up) and elaborately carved blocks of wood used to print fabrics, as well as handmade toys, including wooden-hinged snakes ($3).

There is a good variety of inexpensive batik and ikat fabrics, plus cottons and silks with floral patterns. Downstairs are racks full of ready-to-wear dresses ($18 and up) and skirt or slack suits ($20 and up) fashioned from batiks, and some leather and straw handbags ($40).

Oriental Carpet Palace has Persian rugs from Isfahan, Tabriz, Shiraz and other important weaving centers (prices start at about $150 and soar to the thousands), and staff members who will explain differences in patterns and coloration.

Jades and Gems

Chu’s Jade Center sells seed pearls for $4 to $8 per strand and coral beads for $50 per strand, as well as collectibles such as Chinese netsuke ($20 and up) and decorated snuff bottles ($8 and up).

Sri Lanka Trade Center specializes in loose gemstones and custom-made jewelry. Prices on amethysts, tourmaline, topaz, blue sapphires and other colored stones are reasonable. But the shop offers no certification of stones, so know your gems before buying here.

C & G Gallery has Chinese brush-and-ink paintings for $50 and up.

The Souvenir Station sells hand-crocheted silk blouses for $20, cloisonne eggs ($6), exotic butterfly and moth specimens mounted and framed in glass cases ($7 and up) and other oddities.

Selangor Pewter sells high-quality pewter tankards for $24, pocket flasks ($18), vases ($17) and pewter-and-wood desk accessories ($15 and up), as well as pitchers, plates and little animal sculptures ($13 and up).

Renovated Shops

Despite its convenience, the Handicraft Center isn’t Singapore’s only source for Southeast Asian arts and crafts. Another group of outstanding shops is at Cuppage Terrace, a row of renovated turn-of-the-century shops in the Cuppage Road Pedestrian Mall just off Orchard Road, near Le Meridian Hotel.

Cuppage Terrace has shops that sell hardware, refrigerators, bicycle tires and other everyday wares, as well as some that sell crafts. Babazar Design Market, on the second story, has a collection of home furnishings and accessories from India, Malaysia, Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries.

There are handmade Balinese bamboo armchairs ($565 to $665) with matching six-side coffee tables ($625), side tables ($225) and chaise lounges ($965).

Elaborately carved antique four-poster beds from India cost about $1,000, antique carved wooden dowry chests are about $1,500 and carved wooden capitals salvaged from old buildings cost about $500 a pair.

There are ikat fabrics and Chinese wedding silks, as well as silk-screened Singapore stationery ($2 per packet), hand-painted greeting cards (six for $5) and small gift items.

Wooden Buddhas

China Crafts has wooden Buddhas ($225) carved of boxwood, an ivory look-alike, and Balinese hand-carved ebony sculptures of gods ($600 for a six-foot-tall statue), plus carved satinwood fruit ($100 per full bowl) and carved miniature banana trees ($28) from Indonesia.

Orient Crafts’ goods include delicate-looking cranes made of white metal ($32), Chinese silk money bags ($5), heavyweight and heavily decorated brass coasters ($12 each), colorful enamel bangles ($4 each), cushion covers with elaborate embroidery and tiny mirrors ($5 to $14) and mah-jongg sets ($35).

Della Butcher Gallery is the best source for Singapore art, including cityscapes by acclaimed local artists Wah Soon Kam, Poh Siew Wah and Ang Ah Tee, plus Chien Chuey Fook’s enamel paintings, Florence Shen’s collages and others. Prices start at about $150.

Petnic’s, tucked away in an upstairs corner of Cuppage Terrace, specializes in Nonya (Straits Chinese) antiques. The shop has some marvelous artifacts, but opening hours are irregular. Call (235-6564) for an appointment.

Taxi Ride to Stores

Somewhat off the beaten tourist track but well worth the taxi ride (about 15 minutes and $5), Holland Village (a shopping area off Holland Road) has several outstanding shops.

Sin Seng Huat Arts and Crafts (16 Lorong Mambong, off Holland Road) sells hand-painted ceramic tea caddies for $13, bamboo lamp shades ($5) and swan-shaped letter holders ($9), celadon green tea sets with pot and four cups ($6 per set), blue and white porcelain lamp bases ($25) and pitchers ($8), 32-inch-tall hexagonal vases hand-painted with ducks and nature scenes ($33), and beige ceramic stools with dragon motifs etched in brown ($13).

Tommy Store (211 Holland Ave.) has celadon vases ($5 to $10), teapots and caddies ($3 to $5), baskets and bamboo bangles (60 cents) and hanging lamps made of polished sea shells ($14).

The Pagoda House (211 Holland Ave.) has four-section ebony screens depicting dancing women in inlaid quartz, coral and other semiprecious stones ($800), small curio cabinets with inlaid mother-of-pearl ($125), lacquerware cabinets ($150) and sets of four lacquerware tables that stack together ($250). Lacquered roll-top desks can be special-ordered.

Prices quoted in this article reflect currency exchange rates at the time of writing .