Pham Hai Bang made handmade paper in Thailand.

In mid 2007, Bang got a scholarship from the Asian Scholarship Foundation (ASF) to go to Thailand to research handmade Asian paper.

The seven-month trip to rural villages in the northern region of Thailand to “research and make comparisons of handmade papers and the production process of handmade papers between Thailand and Vietnam” seems to have no relation to Bang, a lecturer of application graphics at the Hue city Art University. However, it is very closely connected to his teaching job as well as his work as a painter.

Different from industrial paper, which is made of pulp, handmade paper from several Asian countries is made by hand from tree husks. Without the treatment of chemicals, handmade papers have greater longevity than industrial products.

Moreover, the husk of different parts of trees (trunk, top, body) yields different kinds of paper, with different particularities, satisfying different requirements of painters. Handmade papers like Vietnam’s do, China’s xuyen chi, Japan’s washi and Thailand’s sa have been used popularly by artists.

The trip to Thailand revealed something. According to Bang, Thai experts, artisans and painters like Vietnam’s do paper very much for its uniqueness. However, the size and the thickness of do paper don’t meet the varied requirements of artists in creating paper and printing paintings. In addition, if Thai artisans are willing to let Bang know about every production stage of Thai handmade paper, artisans at the Dong Cao do paper village in Bac Ninh province, Vietnam, always hide the most important phase: material treatment.

Bang said understanding paper material can help him achieve the best effects in making graphic paintings. Moreover, feelings from materials are sources of creativeness. Hai Bang has thought of opening his own handmade paper enterprise.

VietNamNet/DNSG