Traceable timber, always
Every board we cut comes with a paper trail back to a specific FSC-certified Malaysian plantation. If we cannot trace it, we will not work with it.
Home·The atelier
About the studioFive people, one bench, and a long view of what wood can do.
EkoVault Atelier started in 2012 in a converted shophouse in Subang. We have stayed deliberately small ever since — five hands at the bench is enough to keep every piece personal, and small enough that the maker who sketches a cabinet is the one who delivers it.
Origin
Quiet beginnings on Jalan Sungai Pinang
The studio was founded by Khairul Rahman, a third-generation carpenter from Kuala Kangsar who trained at the now-closed Bengkel Kayu Cahaya before spending six years restoring heritage joinery in George Town. He opened EkoVault to do the work he wished was more available locally — solid timber pieces, sourced honestly, built without veneers or shortcuts.
Within two years the studio had grown to its current size: a designer-maker who handles drawings, a finisher with twenty years on stains and oils, two bench joiners who came up through the same Penang tradition as Khairul, and a project lead who keeps client schedules and the workshop humming together.
Arrange a workshop visit
What we hold to
Six commitments we will not negotiate on.
These are the small fences we have put around the practice. They sometimes make a project slower or more expensive than the alternative. They have never made us regret a piece.
No MDF in structure
Engineered panels appear only in non-structural backs and drawer bottoms, and only when their performance genuinely beats solid timber for the job.
Hand-cut joinery
Mortise-and-tenon, dovetail, sliding dovetail. Mechanical fasteners are used only where they belong — never as a substitute for a properly fitted joint.
Low-VOC finishes
Plant-based oils, natural beeswax, water-based clear coats. No solvent-based lacquers — your room should smell of timber, not chemistry.
Transparent line-item quotes
Every estimate breaks out timber, labour, hardware, finish and delivery. You will always see where the money sits before you confirm.
One settling visit, ten-year warranty
We come back six months after install to re-tune the piece, on us. The structural joinery is warranted for a decade — most of our furniture will outlive that easily.
Materials
The timber rack, demystified
At any moment our seasoning rack carries between four and six thousand board feet of Malaysian hardwood at various stages of air-drying. We do not buy on speculation — every batch is logged in against forward commissions.
- Chengal (Neobalanocarpus heimii) — the workhorse of our practice. Stable, dense, takes oil beautifully. Used in dining tables, beds and high-traffic built-ins.
- Merbau (Intsia palembanica) — deep reddish-brown, naturally resistant to humidity and termites. Favoured for commercial fit-outs and bathroom-adjacent millwork.
- Light meranti — for interior carcass work where weight matters. We use it only behind solid timber faces, never on show.
- Kembang semangkok — figured, occasional, reserved for statement tabletops and feature panels.
- Reclaimed nyatoh — sourced from demolitions of pre-war shophouses around Ipoh and Taiping. Limited stock, reserved for restorations.
The studio in numbers
A small practice, by design.
2012
Year the bench was first set up in Subang.
5
People in the studio. We intend to keep it that way.
240+
Commissions completed across residential and hospitality work.
87%
Of new clients arrive on a referral from a previous one.