Level C - Lesson 86

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FINE ARTS & CRAFTS PRODUCTS in Vietnam

Bamboo products: Bamboo grown in tropical Vietnam has several kinds called tre, may and song. These three kinds of bamboo are abundant. Thus they become an inexhaustible sources of materials for Vietnamese artisans to make bamboo products.

Vietnam bamboo products first appeared on the world market in a Paris fair, France, in 1931. Since then more than 200 items of Vietnamese bamboo products have their ways to oversea outlets in the five continents. Among the much sought after items on the overseas markets are bamboo producers such as fruit dishes, fruit and flower baskets, flower pots, flower bowls, hand bags, shopping bags, lamp shades, salons and book shelves; the cite just a few.

The advantages Vietnam's bamboo can boast include its lightness, durability and termite resistant substance.

Lace and embroidery: Among the names of ancient Hanoi's 36 guild streets there was pho Hang Theu (Embroideries street). This was the street where many embroidery articles have been sold. The street is now part of the south-western end of present-day Hang Trong street that leads to Ly Thai To street.

Vietnam's needlework items are many and their patterns of embroidery are also very diversified. The beautiful patterns resemble birds, flowers, plants and human portraits. They include lotus flower, crythansemun, dragons, phoenixes, pairs of old pine tree and a flamingo, a couple of birds, to cite a few. It is in accordance with the purpose of using an embroidery article that an embroidered is likely to choose a certain pattern object of embroidery. There are different patterns exclusively for different items such as shirts, pillow cases, Japanese-style kimono gowns, table covers, bed sheet and wall hangings.

Vietnamese embroideries are very skillful. They can use up to 20 kinds of colour threads for an embroidery. Pottery: There are many pottery kilns in the country, whose date can be traced back hundreds of years ago. In northern Vietnam the two most famous pottery villages are Bat Trang village in Gia Lam district in Ha Noi's eastern suburbans and Tho Ha village in Ha Bac province, north of Ha Noi. In the southern part there are three regionally reputed places in former Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), Song Be province and Bien Hoa in Dong Nai province.

Pottery products nowadays are very diversified in kinds and in designs. It is said that there are several hundred kinds of pottery products on sale in the domestic market. Smaller pottery products include ashtrays, toothpick holders, flower pots, statutes and statuettes, statuettes of young girls, tea pots, tea cups, coffee sets, dishes and plant pots. Among bigger-sized products are big flower pots, single vases, and terra-cotta elephant seats. Pottery makers are vying in making better products for sale in domestic market which has seen a surged in pottery consumption in recent years.

Glaze substance and colour which are preferable now are jade green glaze, brownish glaze, light yellow glaze and cascade glaze. Drawings on the exterior surface of the products are often connected with present-day activities and landscapes such as a little buffalo boy playing his flute, a banyan giant tree in front of the village gate, a pagoda next to a lotus pond, and a girl playing her 36-string music instrument.

Vietnam's pottery products have been exported for decades now. Lacquer ware: There are some countries producing lacquer products whose materials mostly come from Southeast Asia countries where a lot of Japanese trees known as Thus verniciflua whose resin is used to make resinous varnishes. But only the kind of Japanese trees that are grown in Vietnam that can turn out the highest quality resin the substance of which can be used to make highly polished and lustrous surface on wood at the like. The most ideal location for that kind of Japanese trees is in the northern hilly province of Vinh Phu. It is said that the resin distracted from the trees in Vinh Phu is the best in the country. With this reason lacquer ware made in Vietnam is very beautiful and durable.

As early as the 18th century there was a Nam Phuong guild in Thang Long ancient city (now the present-day Ha Noi) specialising in making lacquer ware. In its early stage of development lacquer ware pigments had only four colours: black, red, yellow and brown. Thanks to the development of technologies in later periods pigment development for lacquer ware had received some other different colouring matters. Hence the better diversification of lacquer colouring had been made possible.

Nowadays Vietnam-made lacquer ware is said to be indispensable in both domestic and oversea markets. The products which are much sought after include wall paintings, flower vases, jewel cases, trays, chess boards and vertical blinds, to cite a few. Mother-of-pearl inlaid products: Artisans select, as their main materials, shells from oysters, molluscs, bivalves, and other shellfish, which have rain-bow veins. They inlay meticulously beautiful looking pieces of shell in the surface of their products. The making of a mother-of-pearl products has to undergo several stages. These include drawing, polishing, sawing, chiselling, inlaying pieces of oyster shells in the surface of a fixture, scratching and polishing. A fished picture will many different lustrous colours glittering under a candle light having a look at the picture at different angle you would have a different view to enjoy the variety of attractive colours and shapes that the work of art has to offer.

The capability of conveying the soul and spirit of a picture in a mother-of pearl inlay work of art is not so much inferior to that in any other painting materials. Moreover the colours in this work of art is more durable. Mother-of-pearl inlaying process can be done on any wooden objects such as jewel cases, chess boards, the surface of tables, desks, the frame of armchairs, the doors to cupboards, wall hangings and vertical blinds.
Vietnam with a coastline of 3,260 kilometres boasts an inexhaustible source of materials for the mother-of-pearl inlay business. Jewellery: The Vietnamese people have known how to use gold and silver to make jewellery for decoration purposes as soon as the 2nd and the 3rd centuries.

There are three distinctively different trades in the jewellery business but they closely connected to one another.

Carving: The carving skill is used to carve drawings and floral patterns on the surface of an jewel article.
Jewellery moulding: This is to roll melting gold or silver into long thread before shaping it into different shapes and figures such as a flower, a bird, an animal. Each of these shaped figures is used as a head piece to attach to a jewel article.

Jewellery polishing: This process is to polish an object of gold or silver into an ornamental object without any carving involved.

Jewllery (gold and silver) articles are various. They range from rings, bracelets, neck laces, ear rings to coffee sets, tea sets, dining sets (spoon, knives, and the like), drink sets, mirror frames, cosmetic powder cases, candle stands, etc,. These products are often exported to many countries.

In the present-day Hanoi there is still a street the name which is made after the aged old jewellery business. That is Pho Hang Bac where sales and production of jewellery have been conducted for centuries now. Now not all the many jewellery shops are located in Hang Bac street but they are located in whatever streets are most convenient for business transactions. Wooden work of arts: Since the 1980s the making of wooden fine art articles has seen a strong survival. These work of arts have been much sought after in both domestic and foreign markets. The most popular products are wooden statutes and statutes, sets of wooden sofa, cupboards and beds.

At present there are many companies dealing in producing and sales of wooden fine art articles. Their skilled staff have turned out many beautiful products which are highly appreciated not only at home but also abroad.