Ms. Le Thi Kieu Nga with Art House's environmentally friendly products.
Starting with a green idea
Realizing that the amount of paper discarded in art classes was too large, many of which were only used on one side, Ms. Le Thi Kieu Nga, founder of the Art House Can Tho group, No. 41, Cach Mang Thang 8 Street, Ninh Kieu Ward, Can Tho City, started to come up with the idea of making paper from corn husks, an agricultural by-product that is easily found in the Mekong Delta and contains a lot of cellulose (the main and most important ingredient in paper production). Thinking and doing, Ms. Nga and 15 members of the group and students experimented and successfully produced the product.
Ms. Le Thi Kieu Nga shared: “First, I mix a mixture of scrap paper or used paper with ground corn husks and a little glue. Then shake it on a silk board, let it dry and you will have paper made from corn husks. If you want beautiful, colorful images, we can pick flowers in the garden or use colors to directly dye the paper version we want. Paper from corn husks helps protect the environment and rotate classroom supplies.”
According to Ms. Nga, making paper from corn husks is not difficult and is environmentally friendly. The products are used by her and her students to print Dong Ho folk paintings, draw watercolor paintings for children or use watermarking techniques to create shapes from colors directly on the water surface. Not only stopping at making paper, Ms. Nga also uses corn husks to make decorative flowers on handbags or make bookmarks.
Taking us on a tour of her workspace, Ms. Nga excitedly said: “In addition to making paper from corn husks and flowers from corn husks, the group also expands its creativity with other natural materials such as sedge and water hyacinth to create unique handmade products, contributing to meeting the needs of consumers pursuing a green lifestyle and liking recyclable products.”
The group currently has two locations for displaying and selling products at the Can Tho City Youth Employment Service Center and Binh Thuy Ancient House. Depending on the sophistication and uniqueness, Art House's handmade products range in price from 85,000-120,000 VND/product.
Ms. Tran Thi Huong, in Tan An Ward, Can Tho City, is choosing a handbag made from water hyacinth, decorated with corn husk flowers as a gift, saying: “My friends introduced me to Art House, the display point at the Can Tho City Youth Employment Service Center, to buy handmade products as gifts. I am very impressed and like the group's handmade products because of their aesthetics and creativity. Moreover, the products are made from green materials, which are meaningful for protecting the environment.”
Reach out to the world
Ecoka Joint Stock Company, located in Hamlet 2, Vinh Thuan Dong Commune, Can Tho City, is a facility that produces environmentally friendly handicrafts from natural materials available in the West such as water hyacinth, sedge, rattan, bamboo, etc. for international customers. The company has a campus of about 6,500m2 including a factory, office, drying house, showroom, warehouse and packaging area with about 600 skilled workers with over 20 years of experience and well-trained in quality standards of green products.
Mr. Ha Anh Truong, Director of Ecoka Joint Stock Company, said that the company currently has about 300 water hyacinth product designs belonging to 5 product categories including: home decoration products, kitchen utensils, pet houses (dogs, cats), furniture and fashion items (water hyacinth bags, handbags for women...) to meet diverse customer needs.
According to Mr. Truong, through its products, Ecoka hopes to bring customers quality products that are safe for health and the environment, contributing to changing the habits of consuming plastic products, bringing Vietnamese handicrafts to penetrate the international market.
Ecoka Joint Stock Company's products are made from 100% natural ingredients.
Since the beginning of 2025, the company's products have been promoted for consumption on e-commerce platforms such as Shopee with the Ecoka Craft Decor & Fashion account and Tiktok with the ecokajsc account. The prices of the products are suitable for domestic consumers.
Besides domestic consumption, the company's products are favored by international customers and are present in many demanding markets such as the US, Canada, France, Australia, Spain, UK... These are countries where consumers give priority to using environmentally friendly products.
Mr. Truong also connects with other units to export more products made from rattan, bamboo, sedge, sedge... to increase the value of handicraft products and create more jobs for workers. Each month, the unit releases from 5,000 to 30,000 products to the market, depending on size and design. Revenue brings in about 100,000 USD/month.
From the simple materials of the alluvial land, with creativity and constant efforts, many young people and businesses in the Mekong Delta have written inspiring stories about circular economy from local resources.
Article and photos: MONG TOAN
Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/sang-tao-voi-san-pham-xanh-than-thien-moi-truong-a188502.html
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