T HANGING WITH THE GREEN HAT
With a great love for the traditional craft of Hue , when he was a student of painting ( Hue University of Arts), Nguyen Thanh Thao (36 years old) wondered how to restore the craft of making conical hats in Doc So (An Hoa Ward). From processing Bodhi leaves to draw pictures, write calligraphy..., he came up with the idea of turning lotus leaves into materials for mothers and sisters to make conical hats. This idea was quite bold so it immediately encountered many obstacles. Until now, conical hats have been made of palm leaves - a flexible material that can withstand harsh weather conditions, while lotus leaves are the opposite, when dry they become brittle and easily broken. "It took me 2 years to solve this 'problem'", painter Nguyen Thanh Thao began the story.
Painter Nguyen Thanh Thao - a person with a burning passion for lotus
Anh Thao said that the lotus leaf hat combines a bamboo frame with lotus leaves, two materials typical of Vietnam, so the hat is also very symbolic. When he started making it, he knew he had to face challenges in processing to create durability for the lotus leaves, how to color them to match the original green tone of the leaves... "At first, I processed the lotus leaves instinctively without any knowledge of dyeing technology or anti-mold for the leaves. I asked myself questions and tried to decode them. I sought out clothes dyers, chemists... to learn and draw my own solutions to make the lotus leaves more durable, as well as how to dye the leaves with food coloring to ensure friendliness with nature", said Mr. Thao.
In 2017, Mr. Thao found the secret to making lotus leaf hats that can withstand sunny and rainy weather with a lifespan of up to 2 years. He brought the hats with natural green color all over Hue City to introduce and sell... But things did not go as smoothly as he thought, when he had to face rejection from many small traders. They said "how long can lotus leaves withstand the sun?", "what kind of conical hat is so green"...
Despite facing many criticisms and doubts about the quality, Mr. Thao was not discouraged. He entered the product into a competition and that same year, the lotus leaf hat won the A prize in the "Innovative Startup" contest in Thua Thien-Hue. After that, a famous artisan in Hue ordered 20 hats from him to give to a Korean partner. In 2020, at the Vietnam Handicraft Competition organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the lotus leaf hat was awarded an encouragement prize. "Thanh Thao lotus leaf hat" gradually gained a foothold and was accepted by the market.
APPLICATIONS OF LOTUS
One afternoon, I visited the lotus leaf hat workshop of artist Nguyen Thanh Thao, when the workers were diligently cleaning up hundreds of hats after a day of sun drying. A corner of the workshop was filled with hats with the original green color still showing the lotus leaf veins, looking very eye-catching. "Currently, I have about 20 workers weaving lotus leaf hats, paid 50,000 VND/hat. After receiving the hats, another group of workers will dye them twice and dry them in the sun for 2 days. With careful processing and color-fixing chemicals, the lotus leaf hats will be durable over time," said Mr. Thao, adding that each finished hat is sold on the market for 180,000 - 200,000 VND, while the artistic hats have higher prices...
Lotus leaf conical hat is dried in the sun for 2 days
Now, every year, artist Nguyen Thanh Thao sells thousands of lotus leaf hats to the national market. His hats are loved by many foreign tourists because of their uniqueness, bearing the mark of the ancient capital. Every festival season, especially during the Hue Festival and the Hue Traditional Craft Festival every year, lotus hats cannot be produced fast enough to sell. Thao said that lotus leaves are usually at their best quality on the full moon day of the fourth lunar month. When the lotus season is in full bloom, Thao travels all over Hue to buy leaves to stock up. However, many times there are still not enough lotus leaves to make hats, forcing him to import them from the Western provinces.
"As an artist, I have always maintained the artistic lotus leaf hats to satisfy my passion. These are hats painted and embroidered on lotus leaves," said artist Nguyen Thanh Thao. Mastering the "technology" of processing lotus leaves, Mr. Thao has developed the "Sen Thao" brand with many other unique handmade products such as handbags, hand fans... In particular, in the lotus leaf painting line, he creates embroidered paintings, installation paintings with lotus pedestals, lotus petals and lotus leaves... with high aesthetic value. He also researches and brings lotus into the interior of restaurants, hotels... ( continued )
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ngo-ngang-non-la-sen-185241012215527853.htm
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