Unlike everyone, Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh has a long-lasting concern: How to make the To He have a longer life and be welcomed by more people, especially children. With that thought, after a lot of research and experiments, Mr. Thanh has improved the product quality, increased the economic efficiency of To He, and supported hundreds of other young people in the locality to develop their jobs together. It is the creation of the hydrophobic technique that makes To He more durable from 1 year to several years, not just a few days as before. To him, To He products have been not only children’s toys but also valuable fine-art products and souvenirs, put into galleries and art stores, and favored by domestic and foreign customers.
Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh was born in January 1978. Currently, he is the manager of To he Xuan La traditional craft village Club. Since his birth, he had seen and played with his hometown’s traditional To He products. Growing up, he was taught by his father, brother, and villagers with techniques of kneading and shaping To He. With a little rice flour and a variety of colors, many shapes appeared to the eyes: a flower, a monkey, a bird, a dragon, a buffalo, a horse, an airplane, a train, a ship, a car, a bicycle and so on. Thanh trained so hard in kneading the dough and molding from one to another according to his imagination. In the mind of the little boy Thanh was only a wish that he could grow up quickly to finish his high school program and then follow his father, his brother and the men in the village to travel all over the country, go to the public amusement places to mold the To He according to customers’ demands. To him, the summer days in the city center of Hanoi making To He and selling them to customers were too short to satisfy his passion for the profession. He dreamed of one day his traditional rustic but clean and beautiful To He products would travel around the world, go into luxury stores and huge galleries to reach every foreign friend, without stopping at international trade fairs as usual only.
Outstanding artisan Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh and To He products
Interacting with Mr. Thanh, it is easy to see that he is an active, persistent, and inquisitive person. Perhaps that is why he has never felt uncomfortable to manage to satisfy customers’ strict requirements. According to him, although To He products are folk products, they require meticulousness from doughing, shaping to steaming phases. Beautiful and soulful products require the craftsman to be skilled and passionate and have a good imagination.
With the desire to keep the profession and promote the tradition of the craft village, for many years, Mr. Thanh has been diligently training generations of the village’s craftsmen. He also established the To He Xuan La handicraft village club. Up to now, the club has attracted nearly 120 members and has repeatedly organized the To He Craft Competition and received enthusiastic support from the Vietnam Cultural Heritage Association, Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade and leaders of Phu Xuyen district. In 2010, at the Great Anniversary of 1000 years of Thang Long – Hanoi, in the Van Ho Exhibition Center, the club brought three recorded products of a Ly dynasty dragon weighing 300kg, a turtle weighing 250 kg and a 25kg five-fruit tray made by the craftsmen in the village to promote the brand of the traditional craft village to the people of the capital and tourists. The Vietnam Record Book Center awarded the record trophy for these products.
The club also cooperates with the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Vietnam National University, Hanoi) to implement the Vietnamese To He Project with the aim to introduce products to students of the Vietnam National University. Many schools invited artisans of the club to instruct extra-curricular activities to students at all levels. Additionally, during seminars held in ASEAN countries, Mr. Thanh and the club were also allowed to introduce products to many countries around the world such as the US, Australia, Germany, UK, Japan, Korea, Thailand, etc.
Excellent artisan Nguyen Van Thanh is teaching students of the Preschool Department, University of Education.
To He products of the club
Over the years, artisan Nguyen Van Thanh has received many certificates from ministries, central disciplines and Hanoi city. He was awarded the title of Excellent Artisan and was commended by the Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee for his achievements in studying and following Ho Chi Minh President’s moral example.
Thanh Quy