Duc Thanh embroidery shop owned by the family of artisan Le Van Kinh has been famous in Hue city for hundreds of years.

Artisan Le Van Kinh.

Le Van Kinh learned the craft from his father, Le Van Hoi (1876-1956) who made embroidered products to serve the old imperial capital of Hue.

The embroidery technique in Hue consists of 11 basic styles that require the artisan’s painstaking creativeness, meticulous skills, experience and knowledge of traditional embroidery methods. Also, the artisan has to know how to combine embroidery techniques with the graphic arts.

To create a beautiful embroidered artwork, the artisan has to buy threads at Cong market in Hue City and then treat and dye them with new colours.

The pigments are extracted from brown tuber, indigo leaves, bark of purpleheart, diep, erithrina leaves and flower of the pagoda tree. Also, needles of different kinds must be bought at Mau Tai market and then are polished until they glisten.

Lastly, it is very necessary to use colours harmoniously and embroider right on the sketch created by the artisan. To give the artwork a soul, each artisan has their own secret.

It is the factor that helps embroidered paintings of Duc Thanh be much sought after by both domestic and foreign customers.

VietNamNet/VNP