Female artisan dedicated to preserving lacquer craft Ha Thai

(CLO) With over 50 years of dedication, preservation and development of traditional crafts, lacquer artisan Nguyen Thi Hoi (68 years old) has always been dedicated, meticulous and diligent in every brush stroke to decorate patterns on ceramic vases, wooden vases, folk paintings... to create unique works of art, imbued with Vietnamese folk culture.

Born and raised in Duyen Thai commune (Thuong Tin district, Hanoi), artisan Nguyen Thi Hoi began her career in ceramics at the age of 16. At the age of 17 (1 year), she stopped studying and was then sent by her father to work at a local cooperative. Diligent and hard-working, at that time she and her colleagues at the cooperative produced simple items such as chess boards, bon bon... In 1991, the cooperative was dissolved. During the following period, she stayed home to do farming . In 1993, she still missed the profession deeply. With the help of her friends, she returned to ceramics and has been sticking with the profession ever since.

“My family has a tradition of making ceramics. My father, brothers, sisters, and siblings are all painters, and my sister-in-law is a painter. At that time, the art profession was not yet developed. We did not make vases like today, we only made screens to sell in Hanoi . We did make paintings, but they were only 30cm, 40cm in size, there were no large paintings like today. However, products such as ceramic vases and small paintings sold very well,” Ms. Hoi recounted.

Meritorious artisan Nguyen Thi Hoi (right cover) introduces lacquer vases and paintings to customers.

Artisan Hoi added: “After a long time of developing the profession, when the orders increased day by day, my family started to hire workers. In particular, the most prosperous time of the profession was when I started participating in fairs in the provinces/cities, since then many customers from all over came to buy my products, the number of customers increased day by day. To expand the range of ceramic products, in 2010, I started to produce lacquer ceramic vases, wooden vases and lacquer paintings like now.”

Many people know, orders are increasing day by day, Mrs. Hoi exports her family's ceramic products to foreign countries, most of which are familiar business relationships from before. High profits from selling products, the production of ceramic vases, wooden vases, and paintings becomes the main income of the family. However, the work was favorable and smooth, then the COVID-19 epidemic hit in 2020, orders decreased completely, so Mrs. Hoi decided to stop exporting abroad, only selling and exporting domestically to consumers.

"Whenever I buy something, I make it for them to display in their home. Usually, customers order vases as gifts. The paintings they buy are usually to hang in their home, and are rarely ordered as gifts. I remember there was a time when a customer ordered 300-400 vases to give away to other customers," Ms. Hoi confided.

Lacquer products of meritorious artisan Nguyen Thi Hoi always attract domestic and international customers.

Currently, Mrs. Hoi's family workshop is about 300 square meters wide, with 3 to 4 workers, while the rest of the workers usually go home to make the base of vases and paintings. "Currently, the whole village still has about 300 households that still keep the profession, they make both the base and the finished products to sell to the domestic consumer market," Mrs. Hoi revealed.

Regarding the product creation process, Ms. Hoi said that for a vase, if the product is simple, it takes about 12 stages to produce, while colorful products go through dozens of different stages. In addition, for paintings, it can take about 17 to 18 different stages to complete. For large-sized paintings, it is very time-consuming, even taking several months to complete.

“I directly depict images of Vietnamese culture such as lotus paintings, Temple of Literature, One Pillar Pagoda, and landscapes on each vase and lacquer painting. As for paintings such as Vinh Quy Bai To and Ma Dao Thanh Cong, usually large houses place orders and I will complete the work within a few months before returning the order,” Ms. Hoi added.

Regarding product prices, currently the smallest products for ceramic vases and landscape paintings will cost from 250,000 to 300,000 VND/product, while large products cost several million VND, even tens of millions VND. Products costing several hundred million VND are usually large-sized paintings.

Some impressive lacquer products made by the talented artisan Nguyen Thi Hoi.

In 2024, the lacquerware workshop of artisan Nguyen Thi Hoi is still developing, with steady orders, but compared to the past ten years, it is much worse. “Every year, the locality still opens classes for Associations, and the Association also organizes classes for students on summer vacation. In that program, students still master their profession, and classwork takes place normally so that they can learn more traditional crafts for the future,” Ms. Hoi added.

With her silent contributions to traditional craft villages, artisan Nguyen Thi Hoi was awarded the title of Meritorious Artisan (in 2020); the Ministry of Industry and Trade awarded a commemorative medal (in 2021); the Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee awarded a Certificate of Merit (in 2021); achieved the title of Good Person - Outstanding Good Deed (in 2022) and many other awards from Thuong Tin District People's Committee in preserving, conserving and developing traditional crafts and craft villages...

Recently, according to Decision No. 3717/QD-UBND dated July 17, 2024, artisan Nguyen Thi Hoi is one of 8 outstanding female artisans and skilled workers in the capital city to be commended by the Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee for their outstanding achievements in preserving and promoting the traditional cultural values ​​of craft villages and craft streets in Hanoi in 2024.

Article and photos: Trung Nguyen

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/nu-nghe-nhan-luon-tam-huyet-gin-giu-nghe-son-mai-ha-thai-post334650.html