IPOH: Leaning down, 52-year-old Hamzah Irzal carefully stitches a songkok in a small shop at the Ipoh Central Market’s building here.
As time is of the essence with Hari Raya Aidilfitri less than a month away, he was in deep concentration as he crafted the traditional headgear,
Hamzah had been making songkok for the past 14 years and prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, had three workers under him.
However, when the movement control orders were enforced over the past two years, he had to let his workers go due to poor business.
“Usually I start getting bulk orders a year before Hari Raya, last year there were hardly any orders received,” he said when met at his shop.
Hamzah, however, said he still had a few hundred orders from his regulars, which needs to be completed before Hari Raya.
“On a good day, I can make up to 15 songkok depending on how I feel, especially with the fasting month now,” he said.
Hamzah said the normal orders were the velvet black songkok used for official and daily functions.
The father of five said he also made different coloured “Tarbus Tiga Abdul” on special order, the headgear made popular by the legendary P.Ramlee, as well as “kopiah”.
Hamzah also makes special boxes to keep the songkok, a skill which he learnt on his own.
“I used to sell religious books when younger, and would also buy songkok from a supplier in Penang to be sold here.
“One day the supplier asked me if I wanted to learn the art of making headgear from him, stating that once I was good at it, I could sell him my finished products.
“That is how it started, where after learning the skill, I started making songkok at home, before renting this shop in 2003,” he said.
Hamzah said the job required a lot of patience, concentration and most importantly, time.
He starts his day by creating a frame for the headgear, which is then stitched on a material, and later sewed and covered in velvet.
His shop is open daily from 10am to 6pm.