Tiny woman starts business with quilling

Da Nang Ms. Ho Thi Lang is 1.2 m tall, weighs 24 kg, and every day meticulously makes greeting cards and pictures from quilling paper to earn money to raise her young child.

Ms. Lang is 30 years old, the owner of the "Suong Ban Mai Quilling" greeting card and paper painting establishment in Hoa Phuoc commune, Hoa Vang district. Although she is called the owner, the establishment only has her, the space is cramped because she makes use of a 6 m2 room in her parents' house.

In a room filled with stacks of quilling paper taller than her, Ms. Lang has set aside a small corner to place a table for making greeting cards and paper paintings. Two walls are used to hang her own products, ranging from birthday, Christmas, New Year greeting cards to paintings of nature and village temples...

To make quilling works, Ms. Lang often chooses pre-made card or painting templates, or according to customer requests, then chooses paper strands, curls them into a circle, and uses tweezers to create the desired shape. Finally, she uses glue to stick quilling paper onto the material surfaces to fix it.

Her tools include scissors, three pairs of tweezers, a small homemade rolling machine, glue and tape. "The hardest part is knowing how to shape and glue the appropriate details after rolling the paper. The smaller the details, the more meticulous and time-consuming it is," she said.

Ms. Ho Thi Lang at her quilling paper workshop of only 6 square meters. Photo: Nguyen Dong

Ms. Lang usually takes more than an hour to complete a card and about two days to complete a quilling painting. For large paintings with many details, it takes her 10 days to two weeks. A card costs 30,000-60,000 VND, a painting costs from 150,000 VND to several million VND.

Born a normal child, by the time she was in 6th grade, Ms. Lang's shoulders showed signs of imbalance. Her family took her to the doctor and found out that she had muscle atrophy and scoliosis. Despite being treated at several places, her condition did not improve. Her height stopped at 1.2 m and her weight was over 20 kg.

Traveling and living were difficult, and going to class was teased by her classmates. Lang felt inferior and dropped out of school in the 7th grade, despite her dream of becoming a teacher. She stayed at home until she turned 18 and applied for a job as a factory worker to help her parents raise her two younger siblings. However, after working for two years, the company laid off employees.

Many times when looking for a job, she only received head shakes of "no disabled people accepted", Ms. Lang felt self-conscious and stayed at home alone. In 2015, she went online and learned that there was someone teaching quilling in Hanoi , so she convinced her parents to lend her 2 million VND to learn the craft.

Ms. Ho Thi Lang stacked the details to create shapes from quilling paper for the painting of birds and grapes. Photo: Nguyen Dong

The travel and tuition fees had to be paid at the same time, leaving Ms. Lang with only 200,000 VND for living expenses. Thanks to her eagerness to learn, meticulousness and dexterity, she completed the course in two months. Receiving 600,000 VND in the first month, the girl from Da Nang thought she could survive in the capital.

But fate once again tested her. In a foreign land, she met and fell in love with a blind man. When she became pregnant and told him the news, her boyfriend did not acknowledge it and left. Pregnant, she returned to Da Nang to rely on her family.

In 2018, her daughter was born healthy, and from then on, Ms. Lang had more motivation. Her family was poor and both parents were unable to work. Every night, while her child was sleeping, she took advantage of the time when she made cards and paintings to sell on social networks.

Starting a business with quilling paper paintings was not very smooth. Ms. Lang explained that because this product line was quite new to Da Nang people, many paintings and cards had to be left there. Like many Christmas cards that could not be sold out, she had to wait until the following holiday season to find buyers.

Nh\u1eefng t\u00e1c ph\u1ea9m tranh, thi\u1ec7p do ch\u1ecb L\u00e1ng s\u00e1ng t\u00e1c. \u1ea2nh: Nguy\u1ec5n \u0110\u00f4ng<\/em><\/p>"">

The cards and paintings sold slowly, and at one point Ms. Lang considered quitting the job. The commune's Youth Union heard about the situation, came to encourage her and help her promote her products. Relatives and friends who knew about her beautiful works also bought them to support her. Ms. Lang sold more paintings, so she decided to stick with the job.

For about 3 years now, Ms. Lang has been able to make a living from painting. She teaches vocational skills to disadvantaged and disabled students at a vocational center. Although she is not in the classroom, the tiny woman has the joy of being a teacher as she once dreamed.

In May 2023, Ms. Lang was awarded a certificate of merit by the Chairman of Hoa Vang District for her outstanding achievements in the startup movement and outstanding youth in the area. Her paintings and quilled paper cards won first prize in the "Creative Women's Startup Ideas" contest organized by the Women's Union of Hoa Vang District.

Meeting her at a dialogue with young entrepreneurs in 2023, Mr. To Van Hung, Secretary of Hoa Vang District, was attracted by the cards and artistic paper quilling paintings created by the petite woman. Mr. Hung has since become a loyal customer, often ordering Ms. Lang to make birthday cards and New Year greeting cards to give to friends.

The painting of Tuy Loan village communal house by Ms. Lang. Photo: Nguyen Dong

Before Tet, the Secretary of Hoa Vang district and Ms. Lang came up with the idea of ​​making a painting of the 500-year-old Tuy Loan communal house as a gift from the district Party Committee in foreign affairs activities. This was the largest order ever, and Ms. Lang worked hard to complete it in 10 days. Upon receiving the work, Mr. Hung was surprised because "every detail, down to the Chinese characters written on the communal house pillars".

"All the products Ms. Lang makes are always artistic, thoughtful gifts with spiritual value and are kept by the recipient as a beautiful memory. And above all, that product contains the will of a mother who does not accept her fate, and aspires to bring good things to life," said Mr. Hung.

To have a stable income, Ms. Lang asked her parents to open a grocery store in front of the family's charity house. She hopes to have a more stable source of sales for cards and paintings, because she currently sells mainly retail. "If a few souvenir shops place orders, I will have a stable income to support my child who is about to enter first grade," said the single mother.

Nguyen Dong

Source link