Taking Vietnam’s art to heart
Vietnam’s abundant natural resources have long been ripe for the picking of powerful countries, and its people have been tormented with wars and the resultant suffering. But today, the Vietnamese maintain that they have moved on and have preserved only the positive influences that their colonizers have left them.
Trivia tidbit: Chinese characters were used in Vietnam for 1,000 years until the beginning of the 20th century. French Jesuit Alexander de Rhodes introduced a system of Roman writing into the Vietnamese language between 1624-1644. It is now called quoc ngu, or national language.
French aesthetic and finesse are reflected in Vietnam’s food, silk prints, jewelry and contemporary art, but always interpreted Vietnamese-style.
Hoi An
While we knew that Thang Loi was a “tourist = sucker” place, it was still interesting to watch young girls working on silk-embroidered pieces, with stitches so fine that the frameable images look like photographs. It takes two years to learn the skill and 2.5 months to finish one piece.
In the next room, made-to-order suits, shirts and dresses can be delivered to your hotel in 24 hours. Bolts of cloth are displayed along the wall. Ready-to-wear silk shirts and dresses are also available.
There are only a few streets in Hoi An, but some stores stand out as “fashion finds.” One such store is A Va’Na on Le Loi Street, founded by two expats: Aldegonde Van Alsenoy (or Ava, a Belgian fashion designer) and Anna Ravesteyn (an interior designer). Working with local tailors, their clothes are relaxed, stylish wearables, using silk, linen, cotton.
The Gemstones Art Museum (GAM) is not only a museum but a wonderful, jaw-dropping gem experience founded in 2013 by Dzung Duong, a passionate collector of gemstones. Located on Nguyen Thai Hoc Street in a 19th-century Chinese merchant’s home, it serves coffee in the day and wine in the evening.
It has more than 600 exclusive and rare pieces of gemstone crystals, gem sculptures and cut gemstones in Vietnam. Huge carved pieces of ruby, sapphire, emerald, spinel, aquamarine, tourmaline, topaz, peridot, and quartz show how rich the country is, with many of the gems mined locally.
Nga Duong Fantini, the founder’s daughter, is a talented artist whose creative gold and silver jewelry are sold within GAM. She uses her inherited eye for gems, takes inspiration from nature, sees the image in her head, and asks her craftsmen to execute extraordinary earrings, rings, cuffs, and pendants. Fourteen years ago, she studied jewelry design in Milan and is married to an Italian, Marco Fantini. Her father persuaded her to return to Vietnam and manage the museum.
GAM makes one shiver, being in the midst of two floors of immense gemological beauty and value. It’s already worth the trip to Hoi An, if only to visit this museum.
Cooking class at the Anantara Hoi An
Who would have thought that I would attend a cooking class? My dear friend Cater Reyes, who really loves to cook, and I learned how to make Pho (beef noodle soup), beef wrapped in betel leaf, and “cha ca” (fish), Hanoi-style. One realizes that Vietnamese food is simple to make and uses a lot of vegetables, herbs and spices. It could have been their war-torn past that made them transform the most ordinary ingredients into meals that taste so good.
It was a delightful cooking experience by the poolside, with instructions by chef Le, who has been working in Anantara Hoi An for 10 years. The hotel very kindly set up a table for four and we were able to feed our hungry husbands.
Saigon (Ho Chi Minh)
Ham Long Artist Village was built 15 years ago by a group of artists on a property on the banks of the Saigon River. They wanted an ideal creative space for other artists to work and display their pieces. Ly Khac Nhu, one of the founders, is a master of water ink painting, oil and lacquer painting, and pottery.
We saw the process of lacquer art, using duck eggshells, silver and gold leaf powders, and 14 layers of lacquer.
Mr. Ly, a multi-awarded artist and a soft-spoken, amiable man, gave a lesson on water ink painting. Strokes must be planned, since these can be remedied, but cannot be erased. He painted an apricot branch with a single stroke and invited some of us to add the flowers. It was a fun collaboration of friends, dabbing the red and yellow “flowers” and green “leaves” of the branch. He “completed” the work and raffled it among us.
Art and design is very evident in modern Vietnam — from the north (Hanoi), to the central part (Hoi An), to the south (Saigon or Ho Chi Minh) — and we thoroughly enjoyed our exposure to it.
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