LookAtVietnam – Toy designing may no longer exist as a study branch of the Hanoi University of Industrial Fine Arts any longer.

Toy-makers must design buckets

Like Hung, six other toy design students who graduated in 2008 and 2009 are now working in fields outside their training.

Hung once worked for a small workshop that produced small ships for children, but he had to resign because of the low wages. Now Hung is working for Thuy Long Glass Fine Arts Company, a job not closely related to toy design.

Huong, a classmate of Hung, has been less lucky. She cannot find a stable job.

Phuong Chi, who graduated in 2008, once worked for a newly-established toy company, but later left the job.

“I am now doing graphic design for Hoang Minh Printing Company,” she stated. “I once opened a toy shop, a small one, but I did not succeed.”

She still loves toys and added that she will set up a workshop to produce toys when she has the opportunity.

Vong Huong, a toy design instructor, noted that a decade ago, there were many toy workshops in Vietnam. Over time, the products could not be sold and could not compete with Chinese products.

She revealed that now, these workshops make items like plastic buckets and basins.

“One time I visited the toy exhibition at Van Ho Exhibition Centre and I felt sad,” she recalled. “The toys are very bad and toy workshops in Vietnam do not have painters who are well-trained.”

Why can’t students find jobs in the field they love?

There are some companies that design and produce toys for children.

Tuyet Nga Company makes toys with foreign designs. Phuc Hung Company makes wooden and plastic toys for kindergarten children, while some other workshops make toys of curved iron.

Many toy design students once tried to work for workshops, but they all resigned because the salaries were too low.

Lecturer Huong also added that once there were three lecturers of toy design, but two have retired. Meanwhile, very few students choose to study toy-designing (six students at maximum and one at minimum for one training course).

The future of toy design in Vietnam remains uncertain.

Vu Lan Dung