Housing developer turns fallen trees into dining tables, decor at restaurant

MELAKA: A housing developer has turned fallen trees into dining tables and decor at a Peranakan restaurant at Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock here.

“I have collected the trees over the last 15 years and transformed it into a truly one-of-a-kind masterpiece at my outlets in Penang and here," said Datuk Ng Tian Yu.

Ng said that most of the trees used had been uprooted during thunderstorms, adding that he used to dine on an uprooted tree when he was a young boy.

“I am Melaka-born so I decided to open one (outlet) here for Melakans to walk-in to relish dining on tables and chairs made of uprooted trees," he added. 

Ng said he collected the uprooted tree stumps at his offices in Kedah and Seremban and that he learned to turn wood into dining tables and wall decorations when he attended a course in China a few years ago.

"I used to be chided by family members for collecting trash," he said. 

On his background, Ng said that he started business at the age of 13 after dropping out from school in Form One in 1989.

He then worked in Singapore before venturing into the tyre shop business in Melaka in the same year.

“I rented a wooden shop in Melaka with a rent of RM60 a month and I gradually ventured into housing development and other ventures in Penang and Kuala Lumpur,” he said.