Nguyen Minh Tuan, talented bronze casting artisan

Meritorious Artisan Nguyen Minh Tuan. Photo: Van Anh

According to artisan Nguyen Minh Tuan, he came to the bronze drum casting profession entirely by fate. Because, he was not born in a craft village, nor did anyone pass on the profession. He grew up in the city (Dong Ve ward, Thanh Hoa city), where there was no carving sound or firing fire. However, he has a strong passion for antiques, especially ancient bronze drums. "I was fascinated by the mysterious beauty of ancient bronze drums, the image of the sun, flocks of birds flying across the drum surface, the deep and majestic sound when lightly tapped... all created a sound that seemed to echo from the past, resonating a song of national pride. From that moment, I vaguely realized that I had to bring this wonderful sound back to community life". However, at that time, the casting profession was falling into "silence", the traditional craft villages had long since stopped burning, the folk artisans had scattered everywhere or were no longer following the profession.

After a long time of studying and researching antiques, Mr. Tuan has a thorough understanding of the history and value of ancient bronze drums. Just by looking at them, he can distinguish between real and fake, the patterns of which period, which type... He has restored antiques many times, including many valuable bronze drums for research and display purposes... In particular, after being invited to work in the bronze drum restoration department at the Thanh Hoa Antiques Association (now the Thanh Hoa Antiques and Heritage Association), approaching many famous cultural and historical researchers, and gaining a deeper understanding of the art of bronze drum casting, Mr. Tuan determined to open a bronze drum casting workshop with 2 workers. At that time, he was 30 years old, had no experience in casting, little capital, only a love for bronze drums and a desire to restore the traditional profession.

Recalling his early self-study period, he smiled and said: “I only had a little knowledge about bronze drums, and no one taught me the profession properly. I learned by myself from books, from museums, from reality, exploring each drawing of ancient drums, researching copper, tin, and zinc alloys to get the right proportions, learning the techniques of casting molds, creating sounds, and creating patterns. Sometimes it took a whole month just to test a mold. Many times the bronze burned, overheated, the casting cracked, and the sound was not round. But each time I failed, I seemed to understand a little more about the talent and patience of the ancients.” After countless failures, he and his workers finally successfully cast the first bronze drum using the traditional method. “About a year after opening the workshop, I successfully cast the first drum. When the drum sounded deep, resonant but not shrill, I burst into happiness. At that time, my workshop was almost bankrupt,” Mr. Tuan added. Mr. Tuan became the one who restored the traditional bronze drum casting profession along with artisans Nguyen Ba Chau, Le Van Bay... At the same time, he was also the first excellent artisans in the field of bronze casting in Thanh Hoa.

After that success, the bronze drum casting profession returned to its glory days. His bronze drum casting workshop was constantly expanded, at its peak it had up to 50 workers, orders poured in from everywhere, Vietnamese bronze drum products were present in all provinces and cities, highly appreciated for their art and spirituality. He also regularly led groups to perform bronze drum casting art at events inside and outside the province. Looking at the hundreds of certificates of merit in the places he has been is enough to understand his love for bronze drums.

In nearly 20 years of working, he has created many impressive products, such as: a 1m diameter bronze drum with a pattern of 1,000 dragons for the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long - Hanoi . The drum was made by him and his craftsmen for 5 months, each stage was carried out meticulously and carefully. And thousands of bronze drums for commemorative activities and important events in many provinces and cities across the country.

Like the aspirations of many generations of artisans before him, artisan Nguyen Minh Tuan hopes that more and more young people will learn the craft. He encourages and is willing to teach for free to anyone in need. He teaches not only the techniques of casting molds and smelting bronze, but also shares about the national culture associated with each product, the value and history of bronze casting. He hopes that through this, young people will not only know about the craft, but also understand, appreciate and possibly think about sticking with it for the long term. For him, a young person deciding to follow the craft is like successfully casting a highly difficult bronze drum. To date, he has taught the craft to hundreds of students, many of whom have opened their own workshops or are still accompanying him on his journey to preserve the traditional craft. Among them, his younger brother Nguyen Thanh Tu, after being taught the craft by him, has also become an excellent artisan.

Restoring traditional crafts but maintaining them in modern life is not easy. Mr. Tuan understands that even though it is a traditional craft, there must still be innovation, creativity, and meeting customer needs to be able to "feed people". Therefore, in recent years, he and his workers have constantly researched and innovated designs to make products more applicable and convenient. Accordingly, bronze drums have been made smaller, becoming small and meaningful tourist souvenirs.

A restored craft is precious, but a craft that is used, lived, and passed on is truly a soulful heritage. Therefore, artisan Nguyen Minh Tuan is making every effort to “pass on the torch”, sowing the seeds of love for the craft and national pride for the younger generation.

Van Anh

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/nguyen-minh-tuan-nghe-nhan-duc-dong-tai-nang-251211.htm