The statue maker
Published on: Saturday, April 22, 2017
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THE only known statue maker in the country hopes the up to 60 per cent in savings compared to ordering them from abroad will sustain his business.
Entrepreneur Protasius Mukiau whose factory is nestled on top of a small hill at Kg Kuai-Kandazon, said his six workers can produce many types of statues based on the clients’ specifications, except those made of metal.
Protasius started in 1987 by producing religious figurine using plaster of Paris or gypsum but found the material to be brittle. He soon changed to using fibreglass and concrete with reinforcing materials.
Now he can make any type of statue to personalised specification of the customer and get more orders for statues at life-size or larger.
This includes statue of animals and birds for garden and landscaping purposes.
He explained that outdoor statues are mostly white to minimise cost while those fully coloured are normally indoors or sheltered.
To date he has made 180 statues ranging from 12 to 20 feet in height for customers in Sabah and Sarawak since those in peninsula can get from Thailand easily.
He has not gone online for orders yet but through word of mouth for fear of being unable to meet the demand.
However, internet would be the mode of business once his son takes over.
Regarding statue-making techniques, Protasius said small figurine can be produced from moulds but the larger ones are constructed with a combination of mould and free hand. His workers are Filipinos but said Kadazans are learning fast.
Anybody can get a full-size personalised statue made at reasonable cost modelled from full body frontal and side photographs.
“There is no known taboo of making a statue of oneself while being alive,” he added.
His latest statues were a figurine of St Michael fixed on top of the bell tower of St Michael’s Church, Penampang, and another larger than life statue of the saint vanquishing a horned Lucifer.
On what inspired him to go into the statue business, he said it was simply the realisation that there is a good market in our country and no one was doing it.
“Anyone who had experienced being hungry, would never be scared to try any kind of business ventures,” he quipped.
When asked for his background Protasius said he studied Agriculture at the University of Philippines, Manila for two years and also studied informally the arts of statue making.
With regards to the future, he said he has two sons keen and raring to continue all his ventures which include landscaping, undertaker services and a licensed popular native alcoholic beverage known locally as “talak”.
He can produce up to 600 bottles per day which he supplies to supermarkets.
Recently, 40 senior citizens also paid his cottage industry a visit and without a doubt are all potential customers for two of his important services.
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