Chinh teaches her students to make dolls.

Dolls line the shelves of Tran Thi Tuyet Chinh house in Hanoi. But it’s more than just child’s play, this is a lifetime’s work.

Chinh graduated from the Vietnam University of Industrial Art Design. In 1982 she found a job in the Museum of Fine Arts, restoring lacquer paintings.

But in 1988 she discovered a new passion - doll making.

Now she is working to finish her collection of more than 100 dolls wearing the traditional clothes of Vietnam’s 54 ethnic people.

Yes, they are toys, but the dolls also express the traditions and cultural values of Vietnam’s people.

"The nationality of many dolls is immediately apparent in their costume. Everybody recognises Japanese dolls dressed in a kimono and America’s famous Barbie doll," she said.

To research her creations, Chinh spends time at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology and has also visited remote mountainous villages in provinces such as Hoa Binh, Son La, Lai Chau and Tuyen Quang.

"It was during these trips that I realised that modern life is gradually dulling the beauty of ethnic minorities’ clothes."

Chinh sees her job as helping to capture lasting images of Vietnam’s ethnic groups – that’s why she loves it.

Since her childhood, Chinh has been steeped in the culture of the country’s ethnic minorities. Her father was a painter and researcher on ethnic groups.

Chinh’s work is no less diligent. Making a doll takes many stages: first, she must make its skeleton, then its face and hair, jewellery and musical instruments. But the most difficult task of all is making the doll’s clothes.

Every doll is hand made and takes between 18 and 36 work stages. The doll’s heads can be made from wood or composite, their faces from carved wood, composite or cotton.

"The designs of my dolls depend on customers’ demands and my tastes, but I try to make them capture the traditional features of each people and each region," she said.

"I add hair for some dolls, so they will look more beautiful – in fact, some ethnic groups are bare-headed.

"The clothes of many ethnic groups are very sophisticated, so it is difficult to recreate similar patterns in a much smaller ratio."

The most difficult costume to recreate is the Viet people’s ao dai (traditional tunic dress). While it may look simple, Chinh said getting the correct ratio is exceptionally hard.

"But other ethnic minorities’ costumes are easier to make, although they look complicated."

Chinh doesn’t believe her job is particularly hard but said it requires both manual and intellectual labour. And 10 years ago, her only assets were her two bare hands as she had no capital to speak of.

But to finish some stages of doll-making, she hires other workers from traditional vocational villages in Hanoi’s outskirt districts such as Dam village in Thanh Tri, or Nhi Khe in Ha Tay Province.

Through her creations, Chinh tries to bring fine arts into ordinary life. She made kitchen towels adorned with puppet images.

Her customers are mostly foreigners or Vietnamese who buy her dolls as gifts. The prices for her creations range from VND7,000-VND120,000 (US $8).

"Some ethnic groups such as Dao, H’mong and Kho Mu have at least 10 different models, while Chut people have only a few," she said. "Furthermore, the traditional clothes of a people can change if they live in different areas."

There are at least 10 models in Chinh’s range of Kinh people, including the ao dai tu than (long dress divided into four flowing segments), nam than (similar dress with five segments) and ao quan ho (Bac Ninh folk dress).

She thinks that northern people’s clothes are beautiful and complicated, while those of the southern people are often simple, but not less beautiful.

"It is not so difficult to make complicated models, but it is hard to make money in my job. I invest a lot in expensive materials like brocade."

But Chinh said the main obstacle to her company’s development is a lack of capital. So she is looking for help from Hanoi Women’s Union and the Canadian-funded Association for Private Enterprises.

"My sales generally depend on the number of foreign tourists, but business was better some years ago when many exhibitions were held abroad."

Nevertheless, most of Chinh’s dolls are sold out by the end of the year with a hive of activity in the lead up to Tet (New Year’s Day).

Her creations have received awards from the Vietnam Fine Arts Association and her models, Vietnam’s ethnic minorities, praise the work too.

And the secret to her success is a passion for the job.

"I hope in the near future that my dolls will be present in every Vietnamese family, and replace foreign imported dolls."

By HOANG TRUNG HIEU
Photo: DUY NGHIA     
(VNS)