Life
A visit to unique carpenter shop in Hanoi's Old Quarter
For more than 30 years, Mr. Le Dinh Thang has been attached with wood lathe in To Tich street, Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi.
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| Hidden among high buildings, the shop of the man born in 1967 features only 10 square metres, on a street known as “carpenter street”. |
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| In the area, only his shop remains with the wood lathe profession. |
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| According to Mr. Thang, the job requires a lot of patience. Particularly, the craftsman must have skillful hands for creating precise details in the work. |
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| At the same time, the sharp eyes help precisely turning wood to make products which are perfect is size and with detail without a measure. |
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| The heyday of the carpenter street has long gone, the number of clients has decreased. Mr. Thang only has a small number of orders. |
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| “I always put next to me a photo of my father working hard, as well as the arrangement of his shop to keep the best memory of him and the profession that I inherited from him. It is also my motivation with work, ”Mr. Thang shared his story. |
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| The traditional products of Mr. Thang are mainly pagoda’s artifacts such as: candle sticks, fruit plates, trays, incense box, rosaries, among others. The man of over 50 years old is always meticulous with each cutting line of his products. |
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| ''There are products that require absolute precision, some of which I failed to make and have to redo the process several times to satisfy my customers. There are people who sit here and wait until his ordered item to reach perfection to take it home,” said Mr. Thang. |
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| In the diversification of different types of raw materials, especially objects made from plastics, to pursuing the job of wood turning with a stable income is a big challenge for traditional craftsmen like Mr. Thang. |
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| More than 30 years associated with the profession have given Mr. Thang meticulousness and the iron will to preserve the traditional profession inherited from his ancestors. |
