Beads of love

A National Craft Award winner for Nyonya beaded shoes tells about the dying art

Shoes galore... Lim plans to turn his shop into a living museum. that I’m holding it wrong. I shouldn’t hold it between my thumb and index finger.

The correct way to hold the needle is between my thumb and middle finger to pick up the bead tinier than a sesame seed. I push it through the needle using my index finger. I give it another try but it proves to be harder than it looks. One needs patience, good eyesight and a steady hand. By the way, Lim, 57, doesn’t wear any glasses.

I give up and Lim breaks into a laugh. Lim has been sewing since he was 10. As a young boy, Lim’s mother would make her son sit still at home by asking him to sort the beads according to colour. Later, he helped his mum sew on the tiny beads.

A former contractor, Lim faced challenges when the Asian financial crisis hit in 1997. His business stalled and on his father’s advice, Lim decided to call it quits. One day, as he sat across from his wife, Sue, looking at her sewing a pair of beaded shoes for herself, memories of him helping his mother do the same returned.

“I told my wife that I used to help my mother sew,” he says. But of course, his wife couldn’t believe it at first and asked him to prove it. It took Lim no time to finish sewing one side of the shoes and Sue was impressed. The husband-and-wife team started a business making beaded shoes.

Lim was conferred the National Craft Award and Unesco Seals of Excellence for Handicrafts in 2012 for his work. STEP BY STEP

Lim’s shoes are mainly in four styles: open-toed, covered toes, criss-cross and the modern, single strap. He uses imported beads from Japan and Europe. He starts off by sketching a design on graph paper.

Halfway through our conversation, he disappears behind the front of his shop and emerges later with a clear folder, filled with designs that he has painstakingly handdrawn. He even colour-codes his design.

“Sometimes the colour changes depending on the mood, but the designs are usually the same,” he says. Some designs feature flowers and animals, but there are some exceptional ones inspired by floor tiles in old houses.

WhenagroupofFrenchtouristswalksinto his shop, Lim immediately takes notice of a blue and white scarf. “You see the pattern on her scarf? When I see something like this, I note it in my mind and later come up with my own design inspired by the pattern and colours,” he says, observing his customer.

The dying trade is so time-consuming that it can take up to a month to make a pair of beaded shoes, hence the high price.

As for the future, Lim plans to pass his skill to his daughter. “I’ve taught her the