The woman who “draws” the future from Vietnamese rice grains

"I, a person who had no training in painting, learned and gained experience through my passion for each batch of roasted rice. Thanks to that, I was able to create 42 different colors for rice paintings myself" - Ms. Nguyen Thi Van, owner of Van Quan rice painting facility, proudly shared.

Rice paintings are a creative and unique type of painting that is unique to Vietnam. Looking at the paintings with rice grains as the main material, you will be both surprised and interested by the skill and meticulousness of the craftsman. The woman who created these paintings is Ms. Nguyen Thi Van, owner of Van Quan rice painting establishment.

Rice grains carry artistic dreams

In 2015, while working as a teacher at Phu Lo Kindergarten (Phu Lo Commune, Soc Son District, Hanoi City ), Ms. Nguyen Thi Van made her first rice painting - a calligraphy of the word "Heart" for the school to auction to raise funds for charity. Not being trained in painting, and not coming from a craft village, but with her skillful hands and creative mind, her painting was highly appreciated.

That fueled her passion. After that, Ms. Van made more products to give to her relatives. But the sophistication, liveliness and rich emotions of each work quickly attracted the attention of many customers near and far. That was the opportunity for her and her husband to decide to open a production workshop named Van Quan Rice Painting in 2016.

Since then, it has been a long journey from a small model made out of passion to a 4-star OCOP-rated enterprise, exporting products abroad and creating jobs for dozens of local workers. The Van Quan rice painting brand under the management of Ms. Nguyen Thi Van is a living proof of the inner strength and creativity of modern Vietnamese women. Her rice paintings not only recreate the countryside landscape, famous landscapes or calligraphy, but are also ordered to paint portraits and give as gifts for anniversaries, conferences and seminars at home and abroad.

Materials to create paintings imbued with Vietnamese soul

The acumen of female entrepreneurs

What is special is that Ms. Van runs a business and is also a kindergarten teacher – a job she has pursued since her youth. Her days start in the classroom and end in the painting studio. "I want my children to see me always learning, working with passion and living responsibly towards the community," she said.

She also participates in many organizations of the Women's Union and the Business Association to promote the Van Quan rice painting brand, bringing products to many fairs and trade promotion exchange programs in Hanoi and many other provinces.

Seeing her business growing, Ms. Van was increasingly motivated to receive in-depth training in management and financial skills. At this time, through the Charity Finance Organization (TYM) - the unit that had lent her business capital from the early days, she was introduced to a training program to improve capacity and support the development of women-owned businesses, small and micro businesses, developing in Vietnam, under the project "Grow my business" - AMB.

When participating in the online course "Grow my business", Ms. Van registered for the "Expanded Growth" program. She was impressed with the project's online training method and video teaching method, and studied continuously for nearly 3 hours. She told the Business Development Award Advisory Board when visiting her facility: "The lessons are great, I especially like the content of Customer Relationship Management and Responsible Business. In addition, the basic management knowledge from the program has helped me to expand a lot. Previously, I worked mainly on intuition and relied on personal relationships. But after the course, I started to build clearer processes, segment the market, set reasonable prices and apply digital marketing to promote products."

By applying the knowledge learned from the "Grow My Business" project program - AMB, she expanded her sales channels through social networks and e-commerce platforms. Revenue grew more, the number of orders from other provinces and cities and from overseas Vietnamese ordering paintings also increased. "Now I truly see myself not only as an artist, but also as a real entrepreneur," Ms. Van confidently said.

The efforts and acumen in applying knowledge to adjust the operating model have been recognized by the Advisory Board of the Business Development Award. Thanks to that, Ms. Nguyen Thi Van is one of the 3 outstanding people to receive the Second Prize of the 2nd Award, becoming a symbol of the craft business model that both preserves traditional culture and effectively applies modern management knowledge.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Van (second from right) received Second Prize at the 2nd Business Development Award Ceremony of the project "Grow my business" - AMB

Creative model and spreading community values

Now, Ms. Van’s rice painting workshop produces about 300 paintings of all kinds every month, priced from several hundred thousand to tens of millions of dong. The products are sold nationwide and are chosen as gifts for international partners. Many of her paintings have followed leaders of organizations and state agencies to Europe, America and many Southeast Asian countries – as a symbol of soft but profound Vietnamese culture.

Currently, Van Quan rice painting facility creates regular jobs for 10 main workers and about 10-15 seasonal workers, mostly women and local people. In particular, she also designs "rice painting blanks" to guide customers to make them themselves, opening up a new form of handicraft experience for tourists at Soc temple relic and cultural fairs.

To make rice paintings, every day she sets up the frame and assigns the work to the craftsmen to arrange and glue the rice. She also trains the workers in roasting rice to create 42 natural color shades to make the paintings more vivid. The workers who make frames, cut glass, and paint are also taught the trade and arranged the work meticulously to achieve the desired productivity and efficiency. Her house becomes a painting workshop, and she rents an additional piece of land next door to make glass frames for rice paintings.

To ensure sustainability, she uses all environmentally friendly materials: selected jasmine rice, organic glue, moisture-absorbing wood instead of plastic or industrial paint. The products are treated against termites and have a lifespan of up to 10 years under good storage conditions.

Ms. Van and her colleagues took photos in front of her painting studio in Dong Xuan commune, Soc Son district, Hanoi.

Her journey is not only a successful entrepreneurial journey of an "amateur" woman, but also a story of strong inspiration for those who have a dream - no matter how small - of a product bearing the mark of individuality and national culture.

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/nguoi-phu-nu-ve-tuong-lai-tu-nhung-hat-gao-viet-20250530162559511.htm