Product Description

HT4004 lacquer photo frame

Chuon Ngo village is a famous Mother of pearl and eggshell inlay village for thousands of years, located in Chuyen My commune, PhuXuyen district, about 40 kilometers from Hanoi.The trade village was established in 1009 by mandarin Truong Cong Thanh of Ly dynasty.

In the early days, the master craftsmen of the village produced trays and furniture for the royal court like tea trays, banquet tables of kings, lords and queens and a lot of mother of pearl inlay furniture became symbols of prosperity. Because many ò the pieces are really tiny, the intricate designs in some of this furniture takes a long time to finish.

Nowadays, thanks to the collaboration with a leading handicrafts manufacturer and exporter – Ha Thai Bamboo lacquer production export Co., LTD, excellent mother of pearl and eggshell inlay products of Chuon Ngo have reached the hands of foreign customers worldwide and highly appreciated. The decent income earned from exporting products attracts as much as 95% of the Chuong Ngo’s 1,700 villagers to the artwork and has helped many of themovercome the poverty.

Products range: main products with unique characteristics.

With1,000 years of illustrious reputation for fine mother of pearl inlay products, the village products are said to present the pinnacle of inlaying art in Vietnam. In present days, Chuon Ngo talented artisans have made a wide range of products. Apart from refined household goods such as cabinets, beds, chessboards, tobacco boxes, trays and combs, they also produce sophisticated interior furniture like carved beds, wood panels, screens and even paintings and portraits.

The variety of products continues to grow with the help of Ha Thai lacquer production export Co., LTD. The company has always been aware of the foreign customers’ needs, bring the requirements to households in Chuon Ngo village for making them in traditional techniques and procedures under strict quality control of Ha Thai Co., LTD. staffs. The products then will be double-checked and packaged in the company’s workshop before shipping abroad to the customers.

The art of Chuon Ngo inlaying requires craftsmen with dexterity and artistic sensibility. From common materials (pearl, shell and oyster) and common patterns (flowers, landscapes), the art works produced by each artisan differ in terms of color, smoothness and style.

The salient feature of Chuon Ngo’s inlay is perfect pieces of mother of pearl: unbroken, flat, and tightly fitted to the carved wood. Designs on mother-of-pearl are lively and special which bring you a feeling of mixing in nature between jungle and sea. From colorful mother of pearl, shell and oyster with wire range of decorative veins, the Chuyen My workers can create any sophisticated designs.

So far, Chuon Ngo’s products have been accepted by highly demanding markets such as the United States, Japan or Korea. Some VND2 billion is generated every year for the village from export inlay products. Besides the development of decorative and souvenir products, Chuon Ngo villagers have created new designs in a way that simplify traditional products and develop partial antique products in order to increase the possibility of exporting traditional products. To enhance competitiveness and raise product quality, Chuon Ngo villagers have applied modern equipment into production such as panting machine and laze cutting machines.

With the creation and quick response to market requirements of Ha Thai lacquer production export Co., LTD, Chuon Ngo villagers have seen initial achievements as their products have been exported to international markets, which will open new prospects for the village.

Production processes:

Main materials are pearl shells and eggshells are taken from a special pearl with gold lips (Pinctada maxima). This kind of shell has large size with thick inside layers of iridescent nacre.

According to artisans, mother of pearl and eggshell inlay includes of  6 basic steps: drawing the design, cutting shell into the shape, wood carving, sticking shell into the carved wood, grinding and polishing, making antique look with black powders. Each step requires precise, meticulousness and carefulness. The first step is splitting shells into pieces and then cleaving. Small pieces of shell are soared in water and then heated to flatten as the pearl shell is very curve at first. Meanwhile, the objects’ surfaces (usually wood surfaces) are carved to receive pieces of pearl shells. After that, craftsmen use paint to mount and then grind the surface. In grinding process, artisans use sandpaper with big sand first and then with smooth sand and next with lime powder. The final step is polished by “ngai” leaves and rice flour.