Turning a childhood hobby into a business through recycled car tyres
AFORMER credit officer from Prey Veng province is attracting customers with his creativity as he turns old car tyres into furniture, colourful garden decorations and playground equipment.
“As a child, I really liked turning car tyres into toy animals. In the past, children like me didn’t have any options for toys. If there were even any toys on sale, we couldn’t afford them. I simply made my own toys without learning from others,” Soeung Sourkea says.
It was an unexpected turn, making his childhood hobby into a business he is able to earn a living off.
Sourkea qualified as an accountant and worked as a credit officer for different micro-finance companies for eight years. The stress and pressure f rom this work became t he push factor for t he 33-year-old to give up his career and start his own business based on his childhood hobby.
Fed up with his career, he wanted to shif t his focus into sta rting his own small business. His wife of four years helped support the family with her income from the small convenience store she runs while he sta rted.
Last year, the father of two bought a few old car tyres and turned them into coffee tables, chairs, garden pots and hanging rubber macaw parrots.
The photos of his recycled creations went v ira l on socia l media, impressing some people enough that they drove some 50km from Phnom Penh to his workshop on National Road 8 in Pea Reang District’s Snay Pol Village, Prey Veng prov ince.
Sitting on a self-made t y re chair in his workshop on the ground floor of his home, Sourkea tells The Post : “I could see how easy old car t y res were to find and decided to tr y recycling t hem into f urniture, garden decorations and playground equipment. I only started recycling old car t y res about half-a-year ago. I haven’t made as many things as I plan to yet.”
Turning his hobby into a business was a steep learning curve for him. Every day he would spend an hour or two exploring techniques he could use in his small workshop.
“I did not learn from any skilled people how to recycle old car tyres into these things. I always watch DIY videos on Youtube and look at photos on Google,” he says.
Among Sourkea’s rubber goods are chairs, tables, plant pots, toys, rideon animals, swings and playground tunnels. All items are made to order, with some clients dictating the style they want and others leaving it up to Sourkea’s imagination.
“Most of my recent clients I’ve met through acquaintances who like my creativity. For now, I don’t have many models on display or in stock,” he says.
For now, Sourkea is alone working
Sourkea is attracting customers through his creativity as he turns old car tyres into furniture, colourful garden decorations and playground equipment.
in his shop, with the designing, cutting, framing and painting all done by him. For this reason, each item is a labour of love that takes him days to complete.
“A coffee table set and four chairs took me about four to five days to make because I did all the work alone for the rubber parts. The clients can add marble or glass on top of the table if they wish to,” he says.
His big creations – such as rideon toys, tables and chairs – sell for between $60 and $140. The small rubber toy animals (swans, cranes, crabs, peacocks, bears, reindeer, cats, roosters, and macaws) sell for between 15,000 riel and 60,000 riel ($3.75 to $15).
Even though Sourkea loves making things from used car tyres, he says he will not expand the workshop unless his hobby can bring enough income to support ort his family.
“I started to recycle ecycle old car tyres for decorating and relaxation as an experiment. I think it will take about one to o two years for this new business ss to take off.
I’ve prepared myself for this venture after quitting uitting my job in microfinance,” ” he says.
“I’ve given myself self a few years to try making a living from my hobby. If the result ult turns out not well or if my tyre e creations cannot support my family, I will stop and do something ng else. If it turns out to be successful sful and I can support my family, I’ll ’ll continue and expand the tyre workshop orkshop to a bigger scale of production.” ion.”
His creations have caught the eye of private and nd public schools, concerned with h child safety and providing playgrounds made of recycled goods. good
“I got some orders from schools to provide swings, ride-on toys and tunnels for thei their playgrounds. They said these tyres tyre creations are good for children as they are soft and not harmful for children’s play activities, reducing injuries, slips and falls during school schoo break time,” he says.
With g growing support from t he public, Sourkea has to work increasingly increas hard to meet me t he client demand. dema
“My “M major challenge len is transporting po my supplies. su I still use u a reumork [a motorcycle attached at to a long lon trailer] to fetch fetc old car tyres from Phnom Penh and bring them to Prey V Veng province. But I c can only bring back a small amount of old car c tyres, which is the m most important raw ma material for my worksho workshop.
“If I c could upgrade the means me of transportatio portation, I will be able to have plentiful raw materials and can mak make some items ready for stock, display and sale a at my house,” he says.
Sourkea’s s shop is located on National Ro Road 8 in Pea Reang District’s Snay Sn Pol Village, Prey Veng province. For enquiries, he can be reached by t telephone (097 833 1645 and 087 872 778).