Stories
The stories of the regions and techniques behind ceramics and textiles. Know them before you visit a shop, and the same piece will look different.
- Stories
A single blue line reveals life in the south: Sông Bé ceramics
Indigo lines and free-flowing flowers, a familiar sight in Ho Chi Minh City’s tableware shops. This is the story of the ceramics fired in the kilns of Bình Dương in the south for everyday meals.
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Time in a riverside village flows through indigo brushstrokes: Bát Tràng ceramics
Mugs and tiny dishes painted with indigo flowers and grasses, a familiar sight in Hanoi’s Old Quarter. They are made by artisans in a small village on the banks of the Red River, where pottery has been made for centuries.
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Coat, polish, repeat until it shines: Vietnamese lacquer
Small boxes and trays in glossy black and vermilion, glinting with eggshell and mother-of-pearl. This is the story of sơn mài, Vietnamese lacquer made by applying tree sap layer upon layer and polishing it back.
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Spun from hemp, drawn in wax, steeped in indigo: cloth of the mountain people
Cloth made in the northern mountains by Hmong women, who spin thread from hemp, draw patterns in beeswax and dye it with indigo. A handcraft steeped in time, found in shops in Hanoi.
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Printing spring on paper made from tree bark: dó paper and Đông Hồ woodblock prints
Dó paper, soft yet strong, is made from tree bark fiber. Đông Hồ prints are made by coating that paper with crushed seashell and layering colors with woodblocks. A story of paper and color handed down in the villages of the north.
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What a rooster bowl teaches about the joy of living with old tableware: Lái Thiêu ceramics
Old southern rice bowls painted with roosters and banana leaves in red and green. Here’s the history of Lái Thiêu ceramics and what to know when choosing vintage tableware in Ho Chi Minh City.
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