Phu Binh craft village brings traditional lanterns to e-commerce platform

Craft villages are gradually disappearing.

Phu Binh lantern craft village has been famous in Ho Chi Minh City for more than half a century. Originating from the craft village in Bac Co ( Nam Dinh province), lantern artisans migrated to the South, passing on the craft through many generations, creating Phu Binh craft village.

This used to be a lantern-making village with hundreds of households following the profession. However, due to changes in life, there are now only about 10 households maintaining this traditional craft.

Making lanterns is not difficult but it takes time and many steps from choosing materials to splitting bamboo, shaping, gluing cellophane, painting decorations... requiring the craftsman to be meticulous and creative in every detail to be able to produce products with unique shapes and colors.

Creating a bamboo frame for a butterfly lantern. Photo: Phuong Uyen — Create a frame for the butterfly lantern. Photo: Phuong Uyen

After being covered with cellophane, the lanterns will be painted with decorative colors. Photo: Phuong Uyen

Depending on the difficulty of each model, the production time is also different. “Some models only need 10 minutes, but others take half a day to draw. Therefore, the price of lantern products is also different, ranging from 20,000 - 200,000 VND. In particular, there are products that cost up to several million VND depending on the size and design that the customer orders” - Mr. Nguyen Trong Thanh (57 years old), shared.

Passed down from father to son, Mr. Nguyen Trong Thanh’s family has been making large, intricately painted mid-autumn lanterns for over 50 years. Mr. Thanh said that the appearance of industrial bronze lanterns with a variety of designs on the market has been a challenge to preserve the craft of making handmade lanterns. However, traditional lanterns are mainly handmade, so the products produced are still not enough to supply the market.

Large fish-shaped lanterns are ready to be delivered to customers. Photo: Phuong Uyen

Mr. Thanh’s family’s customers are companies, schools, and exhibition centers that buy large quantities of glass paper lanterns for decoration. “Every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival, my family produces thousands of products according to customer orders. To be able to meet all orders, we have to prepare materials from the beginning of the year, focus on drawing, and deliver to customers three months before the Mid-Autumn Festival,” Mr. Thanh shared.

Mr. Chien is making the last lantern frames for this year's Mid-Autumn Festival. Photo: Phuong Uyen — Mr. Chien makes the last lantern frames for this year's Mid-Autumn Festival. Photo: Phuong Uyen

Meanwhile, the family of Mr. Nguyen Dinh Chien (55 years old), who has been making lanterns for more than 30 years, has chosen a different market segment by only producing small lanterns such as chickens, rabbits, fish, butterflies, etc. Due to the seasonal nature of the profession, Mr. Chien's family only makes them during their free time, in parallel with other jobs. When he has free time, Mr. Chien will collect materials and gradually make them throughout the year. "This is not a difficult profession, but you need to really love the profession and put in a lot of effort to be able to follow it," Mr. Chien shared.

Lanterns in different animal shapes hang in Mr. Chien's house. Photo: Phuong Uyen

Find a new direction

Lantern makers in Phu Binh craft village are also quick to create new and beautiful lantern designs to meet the increasing demand of the market. The lantern designs revolve around familiar animal shapes such as rabbits, fish, etc., but become more sophisticated and attractive.

“During the 2003 SEA Games held in Vietnam, the buffalo was chosen as the mascot, so the buffalo lantern model sold very well. As many as were made, they were sold out. Now, every year when I see a popular animal, I make more of that animal lantern model to sell,” said Ms. Xuan Anh (40 years old), who has been in the profession for more than 30 years.

fff — Ms. Xuan Anh is busy making lanterns to deliver to customers on time. Photo: Phuong Uyen

To adapt to modern shopping trends, households making traditional lanterns in Phu Binh craft village are now selling their products on e-commerce sites and social networks to more easily reach consumers, not only in Ho Chi Minh City but also in other provinces and cities. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, households here are busy preparing for a Christmas season with brilliant star lanterns.

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