Investor reveals the price of the criticized Dong Ky chair: Affordable price, total 6.3 billion VND

On the morning of May 15, speaking with Dan Tri , a representative of the Bac Ninh Urban Development Area Management Board - the investor of the Bac Ninh Quan Ho Folk Song Theater, said that the Theater was built in 2016 and completed in 2020. The total investment of the project is over 241 billion VND with many items from the State budget.

Regarding the controversial wooden chairs, the representative informed: All the seats in the audience room of the Quan Ho Folk Song Theater are made of red wood (imported from South Africa) from Dong Ky craft village.

Detailed statistics show 341 chairs (including 18 large chairs, 323 small chairs), 185 tables (including 176 small tables and 9 large tables)…. The total cost for this item is 6.3 billion VND. The tables and chairs are made according to a custom design, unlike mass-produced goods.

A set of tables and chairs worth billions in Dong Ky (Photo: HA).

This representative assessed that, compared to many other Dong Ky wooden products, the above price is "affordable", about 10 million VND/1 piece for a large chair, and not even for a small chair. In Dong Ky, there are more expensive table and chair sets, costing several hundred million VND.

"The price of wooden products depends on the amount of labor required to complete them and the type of wood used. Many family tables and chairs of the same type of wood cost around 60 million VND. The wooden chairs in the theater are made to order, so they are more meticulous and the labor cost may also be a bit higher," he said.

According to the representative of the Bac Ninh Urban Development Management Board, the seats in the Theater are inspected at every stage from the wood selection stage to completion. The quality and aesthetics of the tables and chairs after handover are guaranteed. If they are only placed there for use, they will never break down after decades.

He also shared that the use of Dong Ky wooden furniture in the Theater comes from the design team's idea of promoting traditional craft village products of Dong Ky in particular and Bac Ninh in general.

According to a reporter's survey, at many stores displaying fine art wooden furniture in Dong Ky ward (Tu Son city), besides affordable products, there are many sets of tables and chairs priced from hundreds of millions to billions of dong.

Sharing the same opinion, a leader of the Dong Ky Ward Party Committee, Tu Son City, Bac Ninh Province shared that his family also uses a Dong Ky table and chair set, which is durable, beautiful, retains its value and "doesn't know when it will need to be replaced".

"The wooden handicraft products of Dong Ky craft village mainly serve the Chinese market, domestically and some countries with similar East Asian customs. This is a product of the craft village of Bac Ninh province, so the Theater's preference to use wooden products of the craft village is very appropriate and very good - both for promotion and local consumption", said the leader of Dong Ky ward Party Committee.

Wooden benches cause controversy on social networks (Photo: Facebook).

Regarding the controversial use of hundreds of Dong Ky armchairs by the Bac Ninh Quan Ho Folk Song Theater, speaking with Dan Tri reporter , Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong - Director of the Bac Ninh Quan Ho Folk Song Theater said: "The theater is only the receiving unit, the review and project establishment process has been approved by all levels."

Talking about the suitability of using Dong Ky chairs in Bac Ninh Quan Ho Folk Song Theater, Mr. Cuong expressed: "I have just started managing the Theater since January 2023, however, in my opinion, the chairs are very suitable for the Theater. Because the architecture of the Theater is a cultural institution, especially serving the common enjoyment needs of people in the province, the whole country as well as international guests for Quan Ho.

Furthermore, the official performance stage inside is designed in the model of a communal house roof or village gate to lead the audience's emotions to be immersed in a space imbued with Quan Ho, so the use of Dong Ky chairs - a wooden item from the hometown craft village, in my opinion, is very reasonable."

Mr. Cuong said that the Dong Ky seats in the Theater are very beautiful and luxurious, the seats are spacious, have soft carpets, combined with tea tables, very convenient and create a comfortable feeling.

"The provincial delegations came to the Theater to perform and the leaders as well as many audiences who came to enjoy Quan Ho also praised it, no one criticized it.

There are many types of wood, and they can still be used in everyday life. If we keep saying that using wood means destroying the forest, Dong Ky will lose its traditional craft village," Mr. Cuong added.

Dong Ky chair is one of the furniture products from the traditional craft village of Bac Ninh (Photo: Fanpage of Bac Ninh Quan Ho Folk Song Theater).

People's Artist Thuy Huong said that since the theater opened, she has performed in this space many times. According to her, the space for enjoying Quan Ho is polite and luxurious.

"Guests coming to visit our house, being offered tea, betel and sitting listening to Quan Ho on the seats like that is very beautiful, solemn and reasonable. We are performing artists, being able to interact more closely with the audience, that is happiness", People's Artist Thuy Huong shared.

Bac Ninh Quan Ho Folk Song Theater (Photo: Fanpage of Bac Ninh Quan Ho Folk Song Theater).

Previously, social networks shared some photos taken at the Bac Ninh Quan Ho Folk Song Theater. Inside the theater, there were many rows of large wooden chairs combined with tea tables. Some people said that those rows of chairs were "not suitable for the theater space". Some people asked whether using so many wooden chairs was environmentally friendly? Some people wondered if sitting on wooden chairs to watch a long performance would not be comfortable and relaxing.

Many people expressed their opinion: "In the overall project, such interior design is harmonious and suitable for the space of listening to Quan Ho."

According to the reporter's investigation, the Bac Ninh Quan Ho Folk Song Theater project was recently awarded the Silver Prize of the 15th National Architecture Award (2022 - 2023) in the Public Architecture category by the Vietnam Association of Architects. The project was designed by three architects: Ngo Trung Hai, Tran Hoang Hai Nam, and Tran Anh Son.

Faced with conflicting opinions, the design team representative said that praise and criticism are inevitable for any architectural project. According to this representative, whether a project is successful or not, there are different opinions, some support it, some do not, and the design team respects them all. The Bac Ninh Quan Ho Folk Song Theater project was started by the group in 2016.

"It was a long journey as the design consultancy team had to compete with 17 other teams. After being selected, we came up with 20 options to convince the local authorities.

The idea of making modern chairs was also carefully considered by us before being proposed. Fortunately, this idea was approved, and we had a long time to work with Bac Ninh province to carry out the construction. The project was a work of great dedication, and looking back now, we are still proud," said a representative of the consulting group.

Speaking more about the design idea, this representative said that Bac Ninh is a locality with a unique history and culture. Even when consulting, there were other opinions, the whole group spent a lot of time to come up with an architectural plan, to have a suitable and harmonious design.

"This is a budget project, most projects of this type often find it difficult to do "something new", so when there are innovations, we hope everyone will support them," said a representative of the group of architects.

The Bac Ninh Quan Ho Folk Song Theater project started construction in September 2016, on a land area of 19,400m2, the construction area of the project is 4,950m2 including: Quan Ho Theater with a floor area of about 7,900m2; the theater's headquarters with a floor area of 1,800m2... The total investment is more than 241 billion VND.

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