Half-day excursion + workshop. Vạn Phúc silk village & Vụn Art

As of 31 March  8 spaces available

We return to a favourite FVH location and group of people – Vạn Phúc silk village which is where Vụn Art is based.  For those who do not know Lê Việt Cường. and his social enterprise … he established Vụn Art to create much needed employment for the disadvantaged and disabled (who live in/nearby the village). They use discarded scraps of silk from the village’s silk businesses to create silk collage art in the form of pictures and on accessories. If you have been on this excursion with us before and would like to come again , this time its visiting different locations in the village and  and making a different product.

Vạn Phúc (also known as Ha Dong Silk Village) is located in Vạn Phúc Ward, Ha Dong District, 10 km far from the centre of Hanoi on the Nhue River. According to ancient books, some ancient documents and relics kept showing that the weaving of Vạn Phúc village came about in the 9th century. The village is the most beautiful and famous silk-weaving village in Vietnam. Despite  urbanization process Vạn Phúc  still retains the typical features of Vietnam’s countryside: ancient trees, wells and afternoon markets in Pavilion.

In 1931, Vạn Phúc silk was first introduced to the international market at the Marseille Fair and was regarded by the French as the most sophisticated product of Indochina. In 1958, the silk was exported to Eastern Europe and it has been sold to many countries all over the world.  Experiencing a long-term occupation, the Vạn Phúc villagers linked together into a production line. The village also formed a number of small to big silk businesses, so the silk items are richer and richer nowadays.

Nowadays, this silk village looks spacious with shops growing up close, silk streets stretching out, buyers, sellers, visitors crowded.

In this half-day morning excursion, we will discover the village history trough a walking tour of part of the village, meet some of the locals and get to know the traditional silk-making processes as carried out in workshops. The 2nd half of the morning is creating a collage using silk scraps to decorate a 32 x 36/34 x 40cm tote bag each with Vun Art.

Programme

Half village walking tour, half silk collage workshop

08:30 meet at the village gate for a short intro and registration and payment

08:50 we meet Cuong at Vun Art and then walk to the Ho Chi Minh memorial house, led by Cuong

09:00-09:30 time spent exploring the HCM memorial house

9:40=10:10 visit to: a family which specialises in dyeing silk, and the old house gate which is over 100 years old

10:15-10:55 Mr Nam’s silk shop. See the traditional process of spinning and weaving silk and listen to Mr Nam share stories of his life and business

11:00-13:30 back at the Vun Art workshop we meet Cuong’s Vun Art team, Cuong shares how he set up Vun Art, what was hard, easy, information about some of his team, and their hopes for the future. Q&A and then the workshop where we design and decorate our own tote bag using scraps of silk

RSVP via this link – 1 entry per person – via this google form  https://forms.gle/paHtBr75L37e2QcPA

350,000 VND 1 price for everyone (same for adults, students and children) to cover village tour, tote bag and materials, donation to Vun Art

This activity starts and ends at the village gate. To make best use of funds and keeping the event within our standard FVH donation limits plus especially as Vạn Phúc is easy to reach independently, we can make our own way there and back by taxi, xe om or public transport.

Notes

Due to COVID-19 measures the monument management board of Ho Chi Minh memorial house in Van Phuc requires us to ‘check-in’ via a Health Declaration by scan QR code for Bluezone/Ncovi application or tokhaiyte.vn. For those who do not have the app you an fill in  a hard copy form at the entrance. Please make a note of your ID/passport number

This half day does not include lunch. Please bring snacks with you or grab a takeaway at the village. There is a very nice café called Silk Coffee (https://goo.gl/maps/YZk1W8Skv1M53rU68) at the entrance by the village gate where you can get a drink on arrival.

Toilets available at the village

Welcome email will be sent a few days before the tour

Meeting point  – the (renovated) village gate,  near 233 Đường Vạn Phúc, Vạn Phúc, Hà Đông  (near silk coffee) https://goo.gl/maps/C9sZgsWA1LtV495P6

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