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National Heritage Board (NHB) actively champions the development of a vibrant cultural and heritage sector in Singapore. It makes heritage enriching, fun and accessible to all through exciting events that engage diverse audiences such as the iconic Singapore HeritageFest, International Museum Day and Istana Art Event.

NHB also promotes public awareness and appreciation of Singapore’s heritage through educational, outreach and community programmes. NHB partners like-minded individuals and groups in the people, private and public sector to further the heritage cause. It also provides state-of-the-art archival and conservation services through the National Archives of Singapore and Heritage Conservation Centre.


About the Heritage Conservation Centre

The first of its kind in Southeast Asia, the Heritage Conservation Centre (HCC) is a high-tech climatically-controlled facility housing some of Singapore’s most treasured cultural possessions. It is also the country’s first centralised heritage conservation facility and stores over 175 000 artefacts. It has conservation laboratories specially fitted for the treatment of artefacts including textiles, paper, paintings as well as three-dimensional objects.

Playing a leading role in heritage preservation in Singapore, HCC sets and maintains high professional standards of preservation. It also conducts guided tours, workshops and lectures to promote a greater awareness of heritage preservation.

We find out more from Michelle Oh and Phyllis Koh, both Assistant Conservators at NHB.
 
Michelle Oh - Assistant Conservator
 
How did you become an Assistant Conservator?
 
I was previously working in garment merchandising when I saw the Assistant Conservator job advertisement in the newspaper. I decided straightaway to apply for the job as it came across as a really unique and special job. While at university, I studied literature and theatre studies and my love for textile, fabrics and fashion also led me to obtain a diploma in fashion design.
What’s your job like?

In many ways, working as an Assistant Conservator in the Textile department at the Heritage Conservation Centre is like a dream come true for me. The job is always interesting and we constantly get to work on different types of textiles from very elaborate and elegant Chinese Opera costumes to intricate hand-sewn carpets done by craftspeople from the villages in India.

Our work is normally done in teams and it’s also great that we don’t have to be deskbound all day as there is quite a bit of hands-on work when carrying out textile conservation.

In textile conservation, we perform both preventive and interventive treatments. Preventive treatments would include surface cleaning by vacuuming and proper storage such as using acid – free materials. Interventive conservation involves humidification. For this, water is introduced in a controlled manner to reduce creases and folds. We rarely use heat as it is detrimental to fibers.

For tears and holes, we may do patch repairs, full supports or linings, tidying of fraying threads and various other treatments. These are carried out with the use of special curved needles or fine beading needles and conservation-safe thread. Due to the size of the textiles, the work can sometimes be quite physically demanding.

Sometimes we may have to stand for long periods or contort our bodies while working on artefacts such as stitching a torn carpet for example. Hence, it is important that we keep in shape!
Although our work is done mostly behind the scenes, we cooperate very closely with the museum curators to facilitate the safe handling, packing, transportation and displaying of the exhibits in the museums.
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