John Ang catalogues history with his collection of Malay textiles

It is painstaking work to collect rare textiles, catalogue them into 12 distinct categories, and then put them on display in an unprecedented exhibition called “Splendour of Malay World Textiles”.

But there will be one nonetheless at Menara Ken in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur, for the next three months.

The owner and curator of this unique exhibition is John Ang, who has been collecting unique Malay textiles since January 2014.

Ang, whose parents are Singaporeans, was born in Chicago. He obtained a bachelor's as well as a master's degree in Asian Art History from the University of Michigan.

He was previously based in Tokyo as an art journalist for the Japan Times for two years. He then moved to Taipei and established a gallery that specialised in Asian antiques, furniture, textiles, ceramics and jewellery.

He has written numerous articles on Asian art for art magazines in Hong Kong, Singapore and the US. He has also written a book on Chinese furniture, two books on yoga and one book on Asian cuisine.

He thinks there are many factors as to why he became such an avid collector of textiles. Among them was...