Through many ups and downs, Son Dong craft village is still a prestigious address whenever customers need to order horizontal lacquered boards, parallel sentences, Buddha statues, worship items… With their passion for the profession, the artisans of Son Dong village have breathed life into the works to create unique and distinct quintessence.
Located about 20km northwest of Hanoi center, Son Dong craft village has a long history; with products specializing in statues and worship items gilded with gold and silver, serving the cultural, spiritual and religious life of people across the country. Visitors to Son Dong are impressed by the products with deep spiritual culture; especially the statues full of facial expressions. This place has been recognized by the Vietnam Book of Records as the largest statue and worship item carving village in Vietnam.
Not only famous for carving statues, the fine art sculptures here are also very diverse in types, from parallel sentences, horizontal lacquered boards, altars, worship items, cranes, horses, palanquins, etc. All products have many colors for customers to choose from according to the new style with fresh, bright, splendid colors with many colors or the antique style with dark, deep colors, the people here can all do it.
Currently, the whole commune has more than 4,000 workers working regularly in handicrafts, of which more than half are skilled workers and many skilled workers have been honored and awarded the title of artisan. Under the talented hands of the craftsmen of Son Dong village, many works of art with high sophistication and rich national identity have been created. The achievements that Son Dong craftsmen have achieved after many days and nights of hard work in the wood workshop are famous, not only famous throughout the country but also reaching many countries around the world. Currently, the products of Son Dong handicraft village not only serve the cultural, spiritual and religious life in the country but are also exported to foreign countries such as Japan, Korea, Russia, etc. The special thing about Son Dong is that customers need to order any worship statue, the craftsmen here can do it right away without needing a sample (available sample). In addition, Son Dong people also carve life-size statues based on portraits or full-body photos of customers, from which they carve wooden statues similar to the photos. To do that, the craftsman must have experience, understand the stories, personalities, positions, and positions of each statue in the mind, and then breathe life into the works.
Present in Son Dong craft village in late March, all over the roads are bustling carpentry workshops, painting workshops with the sound of chisels, chisels and even the sound of machines cutting wood. Among them, the carpentry workshop of Mr. Nguyen Huu Thong is a young person in the village but has many years of experience in the profession of carving statues. This year, 28 years old, Mr. Thong shared: “Since I was 12 years old, I went to school in the morning and in the afternoon I carried a pestle and chisel to learn the craft in the village.
After a period of working for hire, I now have my own carpentry workshop to take on work to do”. When asked about the most memorable period in the process of pursuing the carpentry profession, Mr. Nguyen Huu Thong said that those were the first days of learning the profession, he was so discouraged that he wanted to quit the profession. However, thanks to the dedicated guidance and encouragement of the artisans who directly held his hand and showed him the way, his love for the profession and determination to stick with it have been burning in his heart since then.
Currently in Son Dong craft village, many carpentry workshops have invested in new technologies such as automatic cutting machines, helping to increase labor productivity. Sharing with VOV.VN reporter, Mr. Long – a long-time statue sculptor in Son Dong village said: “The job requires the craftsman to be very skillful and meticulous, to be able to sketch the initial rough part of a statue. I am also very proud that many generations are still trying to nurture this profession. The statue sculpting profession is really demanding of the craftsman, just the chiseling alone takes the craftsman 10 days. Now, even with machines, it can only support about 50% of the work. The specialty of statue sculpting is creating the face, each statue ordered by the customer has a different face. To achieve sharpness and sophistication, it still requires the skillful and meticulous hands of the craftsman”.
The precious profession in the hands of Son Dong craftsmen has also spread throughout the region, contributing to the restoration and preservation of many cultural and spiritual works. In recent years, many generations of young people from Son Dong craft village have come to big cities to open workshops and shops to introduce the village’s sculptures and handicrafts. This has helped the already famous brand of worship items, wooden statues and handicrafts of Son Dong become even more well-known.