“I use a lot of waste materials, mostly metal, and turn them into public art installations as well as small sculptures,” he told FMT Lifestyle.
The 38-year-old fondly calls his working studio his “ghetto playground”.
He said: “This playground is not for the public, but for the creatives out there who want to experience metal working and learn about the tools or skills of the trade that we have here.
“It’s basically a studio where I work and produce my art.”
Occupying a 2,000 sq ft section of his brother-in-law’s car workshop, the studio is a small slice of heaven for the artist. On the shelves and on the floor are assortments of tools and odd pieces of metal as well as other materials apparently scavenged from junk yards.
The uninitiated might call the place a mess. But you’ll also see miniature versions of large sculptures he has crafted over the years on display here and there.
For example, there’s a bright red hornbill that is a model of a giant sculpture of an Oriental pied hornbill which is currently on display at Johor Bahru’s Puteri Harbour.
The hornbill is one sculpture among the many Koong worked on when he was with the Biji-biji Initiative, a social enterprise that advocates sustainability. Called Sculptures by the Sea, the series also consists of two others by Koong – a Malayan tapir and a set of two yellow-spotted seahorses.
Koong made art installations for Biji-biji for nine years. He said he was happy to get the group’s blessing when he departed to open his Ghetto Playground in 2021.
Nowadays, Koong mostly does commission work and his clients are mainly corporations such as property developers, interior design agencies and venue owners.
Whenever he receives an order, he’ll inquire about the purpose of the project and ask to see the client’s store room. “That’s where I get the idea of what resources I can work with. I’ll be looking at what they keep in there or what they have discarded.”
Retracing his steps to his childhood in Ipoh, Koong said he used to spend a lot of his time dismantling the old radio sets and other small electronic items that his parents often brought home. He said the interior of the items fascinated him.
“I’d take out the magnets and collect a tonne of them, bringing them to school for my friends to see.”
He said he was inspired by his mother as well, whom he calls an “avid D-I-Y-er”. She used to make her own pot covers, small racks and hangers for the home.
His frugal household seldom threw stuff away, he added.
He picked up some of his craftiness from his brother-in-law too. He’d hang out at the latter’s car workshop during his teenage years, learning to weld and to dismantle cars.
“Our forefathers were definitely handier than us,” he said.
“Back in the day our fathers would have tool boxes in the house and they’d fix their own things. That’s something I want to teach my kids so that they can fix their toys when they’re broken.”
Koong hopes that his metalworks will receive international recognition someday as he’d like to showcase these items outside Malaysia.
“I won’t say I champion sustainability,” he said. “I just make artworks that I believe in. And if my works inspire people to be more sustainable, then we should celebrate them and not me.”