Khmer ethnic female artisan "revives" bamboo and rattan weaving village

With her passion, Ms. Truong Thi Bach Thuy, Khmer ethnic, Director of Thuy Tuyet Bamboo and Rattan Cooperative, Phu Tan commune, Chau Thanh district, Soc Trang province, has changed the face and revived the traditional weaving craft village of Phu Tan over the years and created many jobs for local workers.

Thuy Tuyet Bamboo and Rattan Cooperative regularly receives many delegations to visit and learn from experiences. Photo: NVCC

Passionate about traditional profession

Born and raised in a family with a traditional weaving profession in Phuoc Long district, Bac Lieu province, from a young age, Ms. Truong Thi Bach Thuy learned to weave bamboo baskets to sell at the market. In high school, Ms. Thuy learned more about handicrafts and boldly applied to open a business selling bamboo products when she was just 17 years old.

“However, due to market fluctuations, woven products cannot compete with plastic household items. I had to leave the craft village and do other businesses to make a living. Although my life is stable, I am always concerned about my family’s traditional profession,” Thuy shared.

Returning to her hometown in Phu Tan commune, Chau Thanh district, Soc Trang province, she took advantage of the opportunity when consumers were aware of returning to bamboo products to protect the environment. Accordingly, Ms. Thuy established the Thuy Tuyet Bamboo and Rattan Cooperative.

Ms. Thuy confided that Phu Tan has a traditional weaving profession, with abundant human resources and high skills. However, people only operate on a small scale, do not know how to do business and develop the craft village. "The locality has available raw materials, just need to be skillful and creative to have unique handicraft products. Therefore, I established a cooperative to act as a "bridge" to build a chain of purchasing and consuming handicraft products for people in the area," Ms. Thuy said.

Currently, the cooperative is a place to improve women's economic capacity and skills, creating stable jobs for 32 members and more than 60 women members in the surrounding area. Each household has an average income of 7 to 10 million VND/month from weaving, so everyone is very close.

Ms. Truong Thi Bach Thuy has a burning desire to bring the bamboo and rattan products of Phu Tan craft village far and wide.

Bringing craft villages far and wide

Visiting the product display area and storage area of ​​Thuy Tuyet Bamboo and Rattan Cooperative, we were overwhelmed by the sophisticated products crafted by the skillful hands of Phu Tan farmers.

Currently, Thuy Tuyet Bamboo and Rattan Cooperative has more than 600 products of all kinds, from household products, consumer goods, decorative products, tourism products to gifts... consumed domestically and exported to Switzerland, Laos and European countries.

“Phu Tan craft village has 90% of its workers being Khmer ethnic people. Along with the advantage of having many skilled workers in craft villages in Soc Trang, the cooperative also develops and applies bamboo to the construction of architectural works to promote the value and cultural identity of the Vietnamese people,” said Ms. Thuy.

Thanks to improved designs, rattan and bamboo products in Phu Tan traditional craft village are increasingly popular.

With her dedicated efforts, Ms. Truong Thi Bach Thuy was honored to be recognized as a National Artisan of the rattan and bamboo weaving industry. In 2023, in the Women's Entrepreneurship Ideas Competition to Promote Indigenous Talents organized by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Women's Union, Ms. Thuy and Thuy Tuyet Rattan and Bamboo Weaving Cooperative were honored to win the special prize at the Regional Competition held in Ben Tre province and the first prize at the National Competition held in Hanoi.

This is a source of pride for Ms. Thuy to continue her journey to develop Thuy Tuyet Bamboo and Rattan Cooperative, continue the project of restoring craft villages and community tourism, maintain traditional craft villages and bring bamboo and rattan products in Soc Trang further and further.

Ms. Duong Thi Trang, Secretary of the Phu Tan Commune Party Committee, said: Artisans like Ms. Truong Thi Bach Thuy are typical examples. The "revival" of local craft villages is a good sign. Many bamboo woven products from the craft village are not only household products, but also creative tourism products, inspiring, contributing to preserving and promoting the unique traditional cultural values ​​of the nation.

Currently, Thuy Tuyet Bamboo and Rattan Cooperative provides stable jobs for 32 members and more than 60 women members in the surrounding areas. Each household has an average income of 7 to 10 million VND/month from the weaving profession, so everyone is very close.

Source: https://baodantoc.vn/nu-nghe-nhan-dan-toc-khmer-lam-song-day-lang-nghe-1733714323420.htm