Quat Dong hand-embroidered craft village is one of the craft villages with a long history and tradition. Located in Quat Dong commune, Thuong Tin district, Hanoi, about 25 km from the city center, the village was once famous for its embroidery of belts, crowns, canopy, umbrellas, hia, comedy, couplets, and tents. Today, Quat Dong is also known as the place to create sophisticated and delicate hand-embroidered products.
According to historical records, the ancestor of the embroidery profession of Quat Dong village is Dr. Le Cong Hanh, real name is Tran Quoc Khai, born in 1606 in Quat Dong commune, Thuong Tin district, Ha Dong province (now Thuong Tin district). Hanoi). In 1637, he obtained his doctorate and became an official under the Le dynasty. In 1646, he was sent to the Ming dynasty. During this time, he learned how to embroider and later taught the craft of embroidery to the villagers of Quat Dong.
To remember him, after Le Cong Hanh died (1661), people in the area built a temple and honored him as the ancestor of embroidery.
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| Quat Dong village communal house, the gathering place for cultural activities of the people in the village. (Photo: People’s Newspaper) |
For the people of Quat Dong village, embroidery is not only a source of income to support the family, but also a pride in an art that requires ingenuity and diligence and meticulousness. Hand embroidery is not just a job anymore, but each embroiderer with love of the countryside, precious traditions and a spirit of inquisitiveness and constant improvement, deserves to be called talented embroiderers. .
The embroidery process is simple, starting from drawing the pattern, stretching the background, dotting the pattern, choosing the color thread, and then embroidering. But a finished embroidery product is the perfect combination between skillful hands and ordinary eyes, delicate perception and hard work. The embroidery artisans of Quat Dong village deserve to be called with that name, because only from the needle, thread, and cloth, they have made colorful and impressive embroidery products.
| Embroidery paintings often focus on topics familiar to the lives of Vietnamese people. |
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| (Photo: Dan Tri) |
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| (Photo: Tranhtheuquatdong) |
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| (Photo: VOV) |
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| The workers are embroidering the crane pattern on the Ao Dai fabric. (Photo: People’s Newspaper) |
Quat Dong has many artists known throughout the country such as Bui Le Kinh who used to embroider royal costumes for King Bao Dai and Queen Nam Phuong. In the village, there is Mr. Thai Van Bon, the only person in the embroidery village who has been conferred the title of People’s Artist. Artist Thai Van Bon is famous for his embroidered portraits of heads of state. In which, the Portrait of the King of Thailand is highly appreciated by international embroidery lovers.
In Quat Dong in the early 90s, there were many workshops. The large workshop gathers about 200 to 500 needles. According to the law of life, when entering the market economy, there are times when the craft village seems to be lost, but the villagers of Quat Dong village, with their love for traditional craft, persist in preserving and clinging to it. .
Source: Collected internet.