Ha Tay (now Hanoi) is known as “a promise land with smart people”, where converges the quiescence’s of Tan mountain and Da river. This place is favored a particularly interesting scenery and a cultural and religious treasure, as well as distinguished architectural pagodas, royal tombs,… Not only that, this is a “land of hundred crafts”, especially being the ancestral land of wood carving.

“Surprising and admiring” are the feeling of the tourists when they see passionate carpenters of Ha Tay province. They admire their talent as if there are eyes on their genius hands. From normal wood blocks, many specious products are made marvelously. Each product has it own beauty, from the furniture such as chair, table, long-chair,… to art products. It is said that Ha Tay has most diversification wooden range in Vietnam.

Process specialization is one of the particular element of craft villages in Ha Tay province, especially the distribution of wooden products in craft villages. Household furniture is well developed in Chang Son, Huu Bang, Van Diem village; sculpture in Du Du, Vo Lang or Son Dong village, wood carving and pearl inlaid in Chuyen My village and wood turning in Nhi Khe,… Each village has its particular style which is the crystallization from hundreds years of experience.

The sculpture villages

Sculpture is the most genius work in wood carving. From normal piece of wood, talent and creative workers in Ha Tay have made forever existing products. Coming to sculpture villages, it seems that you are lost in mysterious world with the ancient legends…

Du Du craft village: Located in Du Du hamlet, Thanh Thuy commune, Thanh Oai district, 30 km from Hanoi capital, this is a traditional sculpture village with various kinds of products: from traditional themes such as dragon, turtle, phoenix to modern themes such as animals, art statue,.. Thanks to skillful hands, those products became lively and artistic.
Arriving to Du Du village, you will have chance to study full processes of statue making from raw material to finished product and you will probaly find out your favorite items.

Son Dong sculpture village: Located in Son Dong hamlet, Son Dong Commune, Hoai Duc district, 25 km from Hanoi capital, since the French domination period, there were a lot of artisans who were granted medal. The most famous product of Son Dong is antique animated statue, serving for restoring historic relics and monuments. Statues made by Son Dong workers that look like real person from a glint to a smile. The art of red lacquer with gold gilding is sophisticated that create the majestic soul for the statues.

Vo Lang sculpture village: Regardless of raining or shining, if you come to Vo Lang (Dan Hoa commune, Thanh Oai district, Ha Tay province) at any time, you will hear the animated sound of saw machine, split machine which stirs a the quiet space in countryside. It is difficult to create a lively statue, it is even more difficult in painting process because this is a decisive steps to blow the spirit into the statue. Most of the Vo Lang products are made by jack-wood, a special wood in Vietnam which is soft enough to make a detail carving but never deformed by the time. Jack wood is brought from all over the country but mainly from the provinces of Thanh Hoa and Nghe An.

Photo: dogonoithatmynghe.com