A Successful Business in Caving

BY SOY SOPHEA

There are many businesses open to the willing worker. However, the artisan must struggle if he wants to perfect his talents and abilities. 40-year-old sculptor, Dara (not his real name) has spent the last decade sharpening his skills and is now considered to be a consummate artist.

The fair-haired and fashionable bearded Dara began learning the tricks of the trade in the early 1990’s. By 1996, he was ready to start his own sculpting business, renting a small shop behind the Royal University of Fine Arts and the National Museum.

Sitting contentedly in a plastic chair, surrounded by the tools of the trade and the all pervasive dust, Dara is the king of all he surveys. His sense of wellbeing is automatically extended to the 60-year-old customer who enters his studio. She is interested in buying a 2-meter statue of the Buddha and she is evidently in the right place to buy such a sacred article.

Dara, an academic with a bachelor’s degree in Law as well as an artist, considers himself a lucky man. Not only is he preserving Cambodian culture and religion, he is doing so in a manner that produces an excellent livelihood.

“Why am I a lucky man in being able to preserve my nation’s culture and religion? He asked. “I feel lucky because I am able to use my talents in a way that enhances the spiritual understanding of others. All of my clients are Buddhist. They buy my carvings to place in pagodas, thus making the place and the experience more beautiful. That I also earn a comfortable living is a side issue, but I do appreciate my good fortune in finding such a purposeful business.”

Dara creates sculpture and he creates opportunities for others too. He employs 17 assistants and general workers; during busy times this number rises to 30 workers. Each one agrees that it takes time to create such a good reputation with Phnom Penh’s discerning clientele. However, Dara’s operation has a reputation for employing
hard workers whose products are always delivered on time and at a reasonable price.

Wearing a protective mask against the dust, Mon Samy, a carver at Dara’s shop is taking care to bring the shape of the Buddha out of the formless 2-meter block before him. Samy, 32, from Kratie province 300 Kilometers north of Phnom Penh, said that he had been learning the craft since his early twenties. He too had the smile of a man who is confi dent in his calling.

In the unlikely event of the trade drying up in Cambodia, there is always Thailand. Samy said that he was proud to find himself with the reputation of a respected artist in his hometown.

“With my earnings of at least $300 per month, I’m not too proud wear a mask or get my hands dusty. The money’s useful but the knowledge that I’m working for my countrymen
is equally valuable,” he said. “I love my job. I only have to spend very little in terms of patience and hard work and I have a tall stupa to show for my efforts.”

Nith Khem, 25, from Kampong Cham province and one of colleagues said that he really did not want to change his job despite the dust.

“The job makes me proud,” the former 8th grade student said. “If I change job, I will be a construction worker or motor taxi driver. I have five years’ experience in carving the
human form. It is this experience that earns me the $300 per month and I doubt I would earn as much in any other trade. I’m confident that I’m making the best use of my talents
here.”

Both workers said that the raw materials are brought from different provinces with different types of stone serving different purposes and fetching different prices. “The type of stone determines the cost of the final product,” he said.

Dara said that his shop sells a range of carvings in either wood or stone. He said prices were determined by the client’s needs. “Prices are dependent on the client’s specifications—the dimensions they require, the medium used and the budget they have,” he said. “If they let us know, we can provide them with what they want. The price can range from US $10 to thousands of dollars.”

Proeurng Chheang, dean at the Royal University of Fine Arts, said that the achievements of the latest generation of sculptors had been informed by and were comparable
to the works of their ancestors who built thousands of ancient temples throughout the Kingdom.

“I am proud to see the next generation at work and they are worthy successors to a venerable Cambodian tradition,” he said. “They are well prepared and they respect the traditional rules of form, rather than the dictates of commercialism. Thus they preserve our culture.”

He said that the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts has drafted a description of these artistic values for anyone who is involved in work with the cultural heritage of Cambodia. //