See the miniature West, see the difficult time living with grandparents

MIỀN TÂY - Ảnh 1. — Ms. Phuc built many houses in the memories of the West, the difficult times when living with her parents and grandparents - Photo: THANH HUYEN

Ms. Nguyen Hong Phuc's creative model includes a wooden stilt house with a thatched roof, a house built with red brick foundations, and a house perched precariously on the water, surrounded by duckweed, lotus, water lilies, and a rickety bamboo bridge.

The tiny houses are only the size of a student's notebook, but they evoke a whole range of childhood memories in the West.

MIỀN TÂY - Ảnh 2. — Some newspapers, radios, handbags, tables and chairs are all scaled down - Photo: THANH HUYEN

Western model, a sky of memories

"These houses are my childhood memories, the place where I was born and raised, the place where my parents and grandparents lived their whole lives. Each model I make is like reliving that old countryside," Ms. Hong Phuc shared.

Ms. Phuc pays meticulous attention to every detail: the roof is covered with shredded cardboard to create the feeling of an old corrugated iron roof, the frame is made of small bamboo toothpicks, the tables and chairs are made from tongue depressors, sometimes even the rice trays with bowls, bowls, and pots are miniature to look real.

The houses she built are not just model houses, but a miniature living world : there is an altar, a wood stove, a dining table, a yard to dry clothes, a stone mill to grind flour, and below is a small pond with guppies swimming around.

All evoke a typical old Southern space, where generations of people lived, loved and grew up.

MIỀN TÂY - Ảnh 3. — Ms. Phuc meticulously takes care of her house with simple but cozy furniture - Photo: THANH HUYEN

At first, Ms. Phuc only made models for fun, to remind her of her hometown. But then, the images she shared on social networks received a lot of attention, especially from children far from home. They came to order with the desire to preserve a part of their childhood memories in each of those small models.

"People sent pictures of old houses, some only vaguely remembered them, then told me about them. I had to imagine them, then sketch them out to get the right proportions, in the right Western countryside architectural style. Some took almost a month to complete," she shared.

MIỀN TÂY - Ảnh 4. — With her skillful hands, Ms. Phuc has made many small products using needles, hair, and beans - Photo: THANH HUYEN

Depending on the complexity, each model costs from 500,000 to more than 1 million VND: "Doing this is very hard, sometimes my eyes get tired sticking to every small detail, sometimes I have to spend all night. But every time I finish a house, I feel lighter, like I've just returned home after a long trip."

Currently, Ms. Phuc has dozens of different house models, from traditional wooden houses, tiled roof houses, river stilt houses, to houses combined with miniature landscapes such as lakes, duckweed, banana bushes, etc. All have a genuine, rustic look and are full of countryside love.

MIỀN TÂY - Ảnh 5. — Ms. Phuc personally makes and arranges objects neatly to educate her children - Photo: THANH HUYEN

Teach children to love their hometown from paper houses

Not only does she make models to sell or display, Ms. Phuc also sees this as a way to teach her children to love their homeland. She said: "I built a house and told my children about how I lived there in the past, how I went to school, how my grandparents lived in the past, but it was very difficult but warm. The children listened and liked it, asking many questions."

Small houses are therefore not only decorative objects or art models, but also bridges between generations, where parents' memories are told, where children's childhood is instilled with genuine love for their homeland.

Despite not having formal training, what Ms. Hong Phuc has done has touched the hearts of many people. From simple materials such as bamboo toothpicks, cardboard, ice cream sticks, wire, etc., she has created a "miniature West".

"As long as I remember my hometown and my childhood spent by the fire and the river, I will continue to build these small houses," she said, her eyes sparkling with joy.