The Best Handicraft Villages in Vietnam, and Why They're Important

Claiming to be the oldest pottery-making village in Southeast Asia, Bau Truc Village is home to the remains of the centuries-old pottery skills of ancient Cham. Nowhere else in Vietnam can you find anywhere where elegant hand-worked ceramics are created by such rudimentary techniques. Rather than using the potter’s wheel, Bau Truc potters shape the mold by hand and bake it in an open fire, which is fuelled by piles of white wood and rice straw.

In the village of Tay Ho in Hue Imperial City you can’t swing a cat without hitting a conical hat. Phu Cam craftspeople have refined the art of traditional conical hat making to extraordinary standards. To distinguish such refined work from normal products, Tay Ho artisans weave paper-cut pictures of well-known landscapes between two layers of palm leaves, which can be seen under the light. Another feature is potry conical hats, in which the lines of a poem are meticulously woven from the inside.

Elegant and high-end, skillfully made, intricately woven, the Tan Chau village’s black silk was especially popular during the colonial era. It held such an exotic appeal to the French that they decided to promote its role in the textile industry in France, and thus its development in South Vietnam. Black dye was so hard to come by that the silk was worn only by wealthy, noble families. Often referred to as the “queen of silk,” it has been prized for its high-quality weaving and durability.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT7S1qdGbzA

The history of Quat Dong embroidery dates back to the 15th century, when a Vietnamese ambassador in China returned home and passed ancient embroidery techniques to Vietnamese villagers. Over the centuries, embroidery went from being used on ceremonial and royal clothes to adorning a wide range of products. Now you can find beautifully emrboidered tablecloths, bedspreads, sheets, and pillow cases in Quat Dong Village.