When the whistle becomes a rhythm of life
I was lucky to be born near a wood carving village that is 300 years old, and since I was a child, I have heard the sound of the bamboo shoots and the chants of the forest resounding like the breath of life. Perhaps since then, the love for wood has never gone through the blood" - Mr. Thach started the story with pride.
After many years of hard work, Mr. Thach became naturally and persistently involved in wood carving. That day, when his friends chose a job in the city, he quietly followed a vocational teacher.
"Squeezing, touching, grinding, grinding seems simple, but each time you make a mistake, you ruin the whole work. I think the profession owner must be healthy, patient and have the soul of an artist" - Mr. Thach said.
Up to now, Mr. Thach has more than 25 years of experience in the profession after going through hundreds of wood blocks and thousands of sophisticated carvings. For him, the most difficult step is shaping the soul in the wood Embryo, which means seeing the right image, feeling what the wood wood wants to say.
With wood and humans, each section has its own personality. The craftsman must understand and talk to it to create a soulful work" - artist Thach shared.
To create a complete work, it must go through dozens of stages: From sketching on the embryos, sawing roughly, shaping, grinding to completing the coating. There are works that Mr. Thach has been working on continuously for several months before finishing. Wood carving requires meticulousness, sometimes just a little rush to start over. But when seeing the work in shape, the happiness of a craftsman who loves his craft is hard to describe.
Aspiration to spread traditional crafts to the world
In the era of industrialization, handicrafts such as wood carving are facing many challenges such as a competitive market, less enthusiastic young labor and increasingly dominated industrial products. But Mr. Thach is not optimistic. For him, traditional crafts are a spiritual heritage that cannot be replaced by chains or machinery.
humane hands have emotions, have soul. Machines can only make products, but craftsmen make works" - Mr. Xuan Thach emphasized.
Therefore, he always guides the young generation in his workshop to always maintain the spirit of respecting the profession, learning standard techniques but not forgetting to be creative.
Mr. Thach believes that for the profession to survive and develop, it is necessary to combine tradition and modernity. In the current trend, the profession needs to keep the roots but still know how to apply science and technology to production.
In each product, Mr. Thach always sends humane messages: C attachment to nature, national pride, the beauty of labor of the Vietnamese people.
He expressed: "I want international friends to know that in Vietnam, there are still workers who are diligent in their craft, creating works that are both sophisticated and imbued with national culture".
Each completed work, for Mr. Thach, is not only a work of art but a small story about the Vietnamese people, the result of skillful hands and a love of the profession. He hopes to have more opportunities to bring traditional handicraft products abroad, through exhibitions, experiential tours or cultural exchange programs.
He dreams of one day carvings that can appear in art spaces in Europe and Asia, as part of Vietnamese identity. That is the pride of the craftsman and also the way for the world to know the culture of the country of a thousand years of civilization.
Amidst the noise of industrialization, the image of a quiet craftsman is always present by the yellow light, touching each delicate road to convey the love of the country and people. For Mr. Dao Xuan Thach, wood carving is not only a means of livelihood but also a journey to preserve the Vietnamese soul for generations with hands and heart.
