USEFUL SKILLS
“I LEARNT how to sew because I had a fashion line and I wanted to be able to control production. If I know how it’s done, then my staff can’t cut corners,” says Nik Intan Rashid, founder of Bengkel in Kota Damansara, Selangor.
Her fashion label Alana Ilham specialises in batik, and it won first prize at the 2013 Piala Seri Endon. She doesn’t run the label anymore but she holds batik classes at Bengkel, which she hopes to turn into an artist hub.
“I started Bengkel in October last year, to fulfil my creative side and help teach other people. I started the sewing class because it’s a skill I already have. I make clothes for my family regularly.”
Our mothers a generation ago were so adept at household skills, and they seemed to be able to sew so naturally. Nik Intan agrees, saying that our generation’s emphasis on academic excellence doesn’t provide much leeway for these kinds of pursuit. But academic excellence doesn’t always guarantee a bright future.
“With the current economy, I’ve seen many friends and family lose their jobs and it has been very hard on them. So I feel that it is important for us to have another skill. If you’re an engineer with a very specific but now-irrelevant job scope, what else can you do? If you can sew, paint or do woodwork, then you can at least try to make money out of it.”