Lacquer craftsmen commendation to maintain fire for craft villages

Over 300 years, lacquer art of Binh Duong province has become one of the precious treasures of fine arts, expressed the cultural identity of the province, contributing to Vietnam's traditional art heritage. However, at present, due to fierce competition of the market, the production scale and revenue of craft villages have narrowed significantly.

Provincial leaders award the title "Artisan of Binh Duong Province" and "Good craftsmen of Binh Duong Province" in 2017 to individuals.

However, many artisans are still consistent in this profession preservation for future generations. Therefore, the timely commendation of artisans was very important to maintain these craft villages.

To honor lacquer artisans

Tuong Binh Hiep Lacquerware village (Thu Dau Mot City) was recognized as a traditional craft village by Provincial People's Committee in Decision No. 3855/QD-UBND dated 5 Dec 2008, and was recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage in Decision No. 1328/QD-BVHTTDL dated 6 Apr 2016by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

In recent years, the activities of lacquer craft in the province have decreased. The province has only about 36 lacquer production households/facilities. Many households were small-sized facilities that could not compete with large establishments and have to give up; some large facilities also cannot maintain long-term investment capital, are in danger of bankruptcy.

In order to timely honor artisans, who are dedicating their intellect and energy to the restoration, preservation and development of rural trades in general and lacquer trades in particular, on 30 Sep 2015, Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 42/2015/QD-UBND stipulating the subjects, standards, processes and procedures for considering and recognizing the title "Artisans of Binh Duong province", "Good craftsmen of Binh Duong province" in the province. In 2017, Provincial People's Committee granted the title "Artisan of Binh Duong province" to 16 individuals and the title "Good craftsmen of Binh Duong province" to 6 individuals in rural trades.

Tuong Binh Hiep Lacquerware village has 4 excellent artisans recognized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, including Tran Van Khiem, Le Ba Linh, Truong Van Tinh, Nguyen Huu Sang; and 2 artisans recognized by Provincial People's Committee, including Do Van Lap and Nguyen Thi Mong Tham. The timely recognition of these noble titles has encouraged artisans and craftsmen to preserve and develop this traditional profession.

To keep maintaining fire of craft villages

The good news is that at present many artisans in Tuong Binh Hiep Lacquerware village still retain the passion and enthusiasm for the craft. Furthermore, they also proved themselves to be entrepreneurs, who are sensitive to the times, consumer and market tastes. The commendation of good craftsmen according to Decision No. 42/2015/QD-UBND of Provincial People's Committee is provincial leaders’ concern to create a motivation and maintain lacquer craft villages in the new stage, in line with the orientation developing traditional craft villages combined with tourism.

In fact, in recent years, tours to Binh Duong province have brought a large number of visitors to Tuong Binh Hiep Lacquerware village. This is the right direction, and got good results. People's Committee of Thu Dau Mot City submitted a proposal to Provincial People's Committee for a project on Tuong Binh Hiep Lacquerware Village Conservation and Development in combination with tourism in the city.

This is good news for craft villages. When the project is implemented, it will bring a new face to these villages. Craft villages will be invested in infrastructure, tourism development to generate income for locals, while helping to preserve and develop traditional lacquer craft.

According to artisan Le Ba Linh, in the development process, Tuong Binh Hiep Lacquerware village has received attention of Provincial People's Committee, concerned departments and branches. This has created a great motivation for artisans to stick to lacquer. In addition to supporting trade promotion, tourism development in association with lacquer craft villages, lacquer businesses’ wastewater treatment systems are now financed to ensure environmental hygiene.

Binh Duong Lacquerware - Sculpture Association has 105 members. The total annual turnover of its members is over VND 130 billion, creating jobs for more than 100 employees. This is an important foundation for the locality to preserve and develop the traditional lacquer-sculpture trade.

An optimistic sign is that although it is not as dynamic as it used to be, in recent years, on the export market, lacquer items have grown on an average of 5-7% per year, while the domestic market has increased by more than 10% per year. Besides, being recognized as an intangible cultural heritage, Tuong Binh Hiep Lacquerware Village is facing many opportunities to preserve and promote the value of a traditional craft that are hundreds of years old.

Reported by Tieu My – Translated by Ngoc Huynh