Craftsman revives capital’s brocade

      Brocade artist 75-year-old Do Dinh Duoc travels far and wide to find inspiration for his unique textile creations.
Ha Noi’s woven textile fabric, which uses muted earthy tones to create sophisticated designs, is less famous than its mountainous counterparts, but is enjoying a revival thanks to a craftsman in Trieu Khuc Village, Thanh Tri District.
Welcoming us with a warm smile, 75-year-old Do Dinh Duoc tossed his white-silver hair and began his story.
Born into a family involved in the textile trade for three generations, by the age of five Duoc could distinguish between different fibres.
Graduating from Ha Noi Fine Arts University in 1964, he stayed on to work as a lecturer and continued learning about weaving. He often spent hours researching different dye, fibre and raw materials.
After retiring in 1979, he devoted all his time to research and producing unique textiles.
In the last two decades, many villagers in Trieu Khuc have abandoned weaving for other professions, but Duoc’s passion for traditional village handicrafts has never been extinguished and he began experimenting with new types of weaving by night.
"The difference between Ha Noi’s textiles and other regions is in the mixture of colours, patterns, designs and the products’ durability," Duoc said.
Textiles from mountainous areas are very colourful, often featuring dazzling reds, blues and yellows, while Hanoians prefer their textiles with more muted colours and complicated patterns.
Duoc had travelled all over the country for inspiration, especially the northwest, which is home to the Muong, Tay and Dao ethnic minority people. His travels helped him learn about creating different patterns and colours. The artisan was then able to apply these techniques to modern machines to produce weavings, like Thap Rua (Turtle Tower), Chua Mot Cot (One Pillar Pagoda) and Ho Guom (Sword Lake), which bring Ha Noi to life.
Each piece is the product of creativity, labour and traditional culture, he said.
An intricate sheet of weaving can take Duoc months to finish since he must seek new ideas, find appropriate material, dye the right colours and finally, weave.
Once he had to travel for months and catch thousands of butterflies so he could sketch the most lovely insect for a textile piece he was designing, Duoc said.
With his endless supply of artist talents, including painting and graphic design, and his thorough knowledge of traditional culture, he is able to design stunning textile products.
But sometimes workers aren’t able to translate his genius on the loom and he must weave the pieces himself.
Luckyly for Duoc, he was born in a village famous for centuries of weaving, so this doesn’t happen often.
With a repository of 40 years of work, thousands of Duoc’s textile pieces have been exhibited worldwide. Brimming with enthusiasm, he gave a detailed explanation of each product that has been exhibited.
Sometimes visitors offer to buy his work, but he always refused, wanting to keep the pieces as tangible memories of days gone by.
However, he doesn’t intend to stop weaving textiles.
"I am never satisfied with my products. As a craftsman, I never do the same thing twice," Duoc said.
"Textiles are the soul and identity of each ethnic group, which can be brought to life through layout, embroidery, design and patterns."
"Any job requires passion, but textile weaving requires both skill and the knowledge to co-ordinate each detail to create a pleasant product."
Ha Noi is Duoc’s birth place so it occupies a very sacred place in his soul. The 1,000th anniversary of the foundation of Thang Long-Ha Noi has become the event driving him to produce his most creative work yet.
He plans to weave a special textile, which shows the entire country’s history to the present. He will use basic materials and colours familiar to the Vietnamese people.
This is a masterpiece of love, so Duoc wants to take on all the work, from design to weaving, himself. Because the project is so large, the work will be very difficult, but Duoc’s biggest challenge is not finding suitable material, but his poor health. Though he has been working on his project for months, he has only finished the outline. But his heart is worthy of respect, so we wish him the best of health and can only hope that we will have the privilege of seeing his unique gifts to Ha Noi in 2010.