Hotel sculptor's efforts bear fruit
By Rosli Abidin Yahya

An artist with The Rizqun International Hotel in Gadong is very proud of his styrofoam and fruit creations displayed at the hotel's restaurant to create a pleasant ambience for customers.

Chagat bin Saban, 40, learned the art of fruit and styrofoam sculpturing by himself without ever undergoing any formal training.

"All you need is be creative and know how to handle the sculpturing knives. You must also have interest in the art, otherwise you will get bored," he said.

Using knives of various sizes, Chagat made flowers on watermelons, papayas and other fruits. He designed birds and animals on potatoes and yam.

Similarly his larger designs were done on styrofoam which he needed to paint to make them look realistic.

Chagat said it took him half an hour to two hours to sculpture fruits which are not served to customers.

His fruit sculptures are usually displayed for about a week, after which he needs to sculpture more fruits. The styrofoam creations took him about a week to ten days to complete. His styrofoam sculptures are displayed longer.

Chagat is willing to teach young people, especially unemployed youths.

"If you acquire the technique, you could be employed as resident artists in hotels and restaurants and other establishments which need to change their interior designs more often," he said.

Yesterday his talent was filmed by Radio Television Brunei's Rampai Pagi programme to be shown this Sunday morning.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin