“New look” for traditional conical hat

Ms. Nguyen Hong Lien (39 years old, living in Cao Lanh City, Dong Thap Province) has renewed the traditional conical hat by painting lotus flowers and received many orders from tourists in many countries around the world.

Ms. Lien introduces lotus-painted conical hats to customers.

Graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Finance and Banking from the Banking University of Ho Chi Minh City, Ms. Lien had many opportunities to develop her career in the big city. However, due to family circumstances, she decided to retire to Cao Lanh City (Dong Thap Province) to spend time taking care of her young child. It was this seemingly temporary pause that opened up a new creative direction for her, painting on conical hats.

Having loved drawing for a long time, Ms. Lien took advantage of her time at home to nurture her passion. More than 3 years ago, she started to try her hand at painting on traditional conical hats. Her first work was an image of a lotus flower, the symbolic flower of Dong Thap , which was sent to a relative as a gift bearing the mark of her hometown. “Not majoring in painting, but with passion, I taught myself on social networks, from domestic and foreign artists. Seeing that in my hometown, many women often wear conical hats, but seeing the conical hats were somewhat monotonous, I suddenly had the idea of painting them, unexpectedly when I gave them away, many people liked them and gave them positive reviews,” Ms. Lien shared.

With delicate strokes and skillful hands, Ms. Lien has "breathed life" into the conical hat with vivid images such as lotus flowers, chrysanthemums, sunflowers, yellow apricot flowers, royal poinciana flowers... The works quickly attracted attention on social networks, were loved and widely shared by many people. Since then, she has received many orders for custom paintings, meeting the diverse preferences of customers. In particular, lotus flowers and portraits on conical hats are loved by many customers.

Not stopping there, Ms. Lien took advantage of the opportunity to turn her passion into a serious business. Up to now, hundreds of conical hats made by her have been loved by domestic and foreign customers, including many tourists from Korea, Malaysia, the US... The number of orders is increasing, contributing to introducing international friends to the country and people of Vietnam in general, and Dong Thap province in particular.

According to Ms. Lien, the conical hats for painting are bought from Hue . To paint on the hats, she usually designs the pattern on paper before painting on the hat; creates lines and details, paints colors; and covers with gloss to keep the color from fading. The paint used for painting is acrylic, a type of paint that dries quickly, adheres well, and has a variety of colors. It takes 1-2 days to complete each conical hat work. The selling price is 150,000-350,000 VND/hat (depending on the model, thickness, thinness).

With each hat, she devotes all her heart to the idea, color coordination and finishing every little detail, turning each product into a unique work of art. “To draw these works, I have to concentrate very hard and let my soul flow with each piece to make it come alive and soulful. When customers put them on, I love it because it introduces the image of my homeland,” said Ms. Lien.

Not only painting on conical hats, Ms. Lien also paints on handbags made from water hyacinth and sedge, on walls and other products.

Article and photos: NGUYEN TRINH

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/-khoac-ao-moi-cho-chiec-non-la-truyen-thong-a186608.html