Up and down of a handcraft village
Arriving at Hoa Long residential area in Lai Thieu on opening days of Tets, we can feel Tet in the air of cutting board producers who are preparing their products for the upcoming Tet holiday.
The hustling scene of workers in the area would possibly make us think that te village was once gloomy. Lai Thieu Ward’s farmer association, Mr. Tran Van Hai affirmed that over 30 cutting board producer in the area have attracted thousands of workers. Previously, local people only made rectangle cutting board which had been dominated by round cutting boards exported from Thailand. To recover market position is not an easy task.
At Cong Danh establishment owned by Mr. Dang Van Tai, born in 1967, tens of workers were working on smoothing cutting boards.
“It was painful for seeing the traditional crafting career fading off; however, for our daily earning and living, we invested to higher-end equipments and recruited more worker,” expressed Mr. Dang Van Tai.
Meantime, Mr. Vo Van Nam started the career when he was 16 and currently, 5 sons of his are following his pathways. His family members help in processing raw materials before they get to do other work. By 2000, cutting board manufacturing was only additional income source of the family; however, many families have chosen to switch.
By observation, workers have to follow many steps including carving, smoothing, and applying abrassive paper after choosing the right wooden material to maintain durability. Drying and sunbathing are the final steps to prevent moss. The size and width of the board are adjustable by the workers for specific use.
Wooden cutting board of Lai Thieu brand – a bright future ahead
Currently, under the brand name of Phu Long cutting board, the products have been mainly exported to USA, Australia, Taiwan, and South Korea to earn revenue of million USD a year.
Ever since 2009, Phu Long has facilitated to export nearly 100,000 cutting boards on year-ending occasions. The Phu Long manufacturer also produces other household wooden products to support exportation to those markets.
Together with Phu Long, over other 10 establishments are seeking for exporting market at the price of almost VND 10,000 a piece.
For the joy of more cutting board to be produced, producers are seeking for wooden materials from Tay Ninh, Binh Phuoc, Dong Nai, Lam Dong, and Dak Lak to buy. Such notion is drawing the craft village down for if they no longer have material sources, their craft village is history.
Reported by Thien Ly – Translated by Vi Bao
