Do paper returns

The traditional Vietnamese papermaking craft, such as Do paper and Duong paper, was once in danger of being lost due to the dominance of cheap industrial paper. But now, Do paper is making a comeback with the creativity of young people. They have given traditional Vietnamese paper a new face…

Rediscovering the small pieces of tradition

During the last days of the year, Doan Thai Cuc Huong is very busy. In addition to teaching English at school, she works almost every night until past midnight to complete orders from all over the country and abroad. Her small house in a small alley on Dong Tac street is usually full of lights, fans, and books, but these days it is even more full of calendars, greeting cards, and pretty red envelopes made of dó paper and dương paper. The house is so cramped that every time she receives guests, she has to "change location" to a cafe.

Huong shared that the opportunity that brought her to do paper was when she went to a class on how to dry-press flowers, and the instructor gave her a piece of do paper. Holding the rough, warm-colored paper with its strange grain patterns, Huong suddenly exclaimed: "Oh, how can there be such a beautiful paper?"

Do paper lucky money envelopes are decorated with folk paintings by Doan Thai Cuc Huong, imbued with Vietnamese culture.

That day was also the first time Huong learned about a traditional Vietnamese paper, heard the names “do paper” and “duong paper”. These types of paper with strong Vietnamese identity were like a new discovery for Huong and she was immediately attracted.

“At that time, I had no idea about Do paper, I only heard somewhere about Die paper used to draw Dong Ho paintings. I didn’t even know that Die paper was Do paper laminated with Die paper ” - Huong said.

After taking the time to research, Huong found that the exploitation of traditional paper products is still limited and not thorough. In addition to a few artists who use it as a painting material, there are also a few young people in the 9X generation like her who use Do paper as a raw material to produce handicrafts. However, such access to Do paper is only at the "most basic consumption" level, such as making notebooks, calendars or folding paper in the Japanese origami style. Meanwhile, in Japan, Korea, Thailand and Indonesia, they also have traditional paper and exploit it very well. Why is it that Vietnam has such a beautiful piece of paper but it has not been exploited, or more accurately, it has not been exploited "fully", not to such an extent?

Struggling with that thought, in 2021, Huong spent 5 months thinking and experimenting with “what to do and how to do” with Do paper. The more she learned, the more unexpected things she discovered and new ideas came to her. Up to now, Huong has tried her hand at Do paper with products imbued with traditional Vietnamese culture such as paper fans, decorative lamps, lanterns, Bodhi leaf-inlaid notebooks, etc.

Huong confided that she loves history and had intended to study it since she was a high school student. But for some reasons, she switched to the job of an English teacher. Now, thanks to Do paper, she has returned to history and can bring back folk art forms that are gradually fading away. For example, in the lantern, Huong chose themes from Dong Ho folk paintings such as Vinh quy bai to, Dam cuoi chuot, stories of Tuong cheo plays or patterns on bronze drums... There are paper lampshades she made, highlighting lotus flowers and leaves decorated with paper carving techniques. Another lampshade in the collection is decorated with dried flowers, painted with indigo leaves and a light yellow background of material made from gardenia. Or like the "Luc meo doi do" calendar of the year of the Cat, the cats are depicted very vividly and adorably playing with Do flowers, Duong leaves or banana fiber bundles.

“ I don’t think it’s anything too important or has any big message. It’s just small pieces of tradition brought into an item, and those little things more or less linger, so that at some point, people think about it and realize, oh, I think I’ve seen that somewhere before,” Huong confided.

Sell ​​stories, “promote” products

Unlike most people, for each product Huong makes, she has a common "formula" of coming up with ideas, shaping everything in her head from shape, size to material combination and then starting to work. She does not sketch out anything beforehand, so the stage of contemplating ideas is the most important. Huong said that there are times when she sits idly for half a day, people look at her and think she is doing nothing but in fact, at that time she is letting her mind reset and form new ideas. " That is when I spend the most energy, sitting still but very stressed, very tired " - Huong shared.

Doan Thai Cuc Huong guides children to “play” with paper in a workshop. Photo: Dinh Trung

Because of such a huge “investment”, the products that the young girl makes are very meticulous, sophisticated and often unique, worthy of being works of art. Huong said that when holding a notebook made of do paper, a customer exclaimed that it was so beautiful, they could not bear to write on it. Huong had to “reassure” the customer that they deserved to use the notebook, could write a diary and after using it, they would keep it as a souvenir.

Recently, Huong not only makes handicrafts but also experiments with “renovating” different types of dó and dương paper. Admitting herself as a picky person who cares about details, Huong goes to the paper production site and works with the craftsmen to create sheets of paper that meet her own requirements. The young girl has experimented with adding dó bark, rice husks or banana fibers to the paper to create very special sheets of paper, eye-catching variations, which she calls “dó văn” paper. She also boldly experimented with color treatment for the paper by bringing soil from a rural area in Hòa Bình as a coloring material. The lampshades covered with “soil paint” are very different, the color becomes darker and more antique as it gets darker, very attractive.

Huong frankly said that money is very important to her because she had to do everything herself when starting a business. However, when she created her work, she seemed to forget all her worries. At that time, she worked like a torture, sometimes not eating anything all day, all just to satisfy her passion. Only when she finished, looked at the product and felt satisfied, felt "satisfied", did she allow herself to rest and relax.

Sharing more, admitting that the products she sells are “not cheap”, the young girl is still confident that there are many people waiting because every few days someone texts her asking “when will there be new products?”. The young girl full of personality also refuses all suggestions to expand the scale of production. She wants to control all stages herself, from coming up with ideas, making the products herself and personally delivering the products to customers.

“ There were quite a few invitations for me to sell my products in the old quarter for free. I knew there would be many customers, many foreigners who were very compatible with my product taste. But there were only a few salespeople there, they simply delivered the products to customers and collected money. As for me, selling the products is secondary, selling the story is the main thing. Each product I make has a story behind it, something that only I understand and tell. I don’t just sell products, but also sell the stories that go with it ” - Huong concluded.

The Vu

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/giay-do-tro-lai-post282423.html