Get rich in the land of a million elephants

(Baonghean) - Nguyen Dinh Chung is known as “Dinh chung furniture” in Vientiane, Laos. Chung is famous for owning a shop specializing in selling handicrafts and driftwood, almost one of the best in Vientiane. Every year, the Laos-Vietnam Trade Fair chooses him to represent young Lao businesses to display their products.

Finding Nguyen Dinh Chung is not difficult, because his shop is located on the road from the center of Vientiane City to Vat-tay Airport, Asean Road, Sidamduan Village, Chanthabouri District. The shop has hundreds of products, which are skillful driftwood artworks, delicately crafted from tree stumps and roots that have been forgotten on the wild fields of Laos. That said, through his hands and creative mind, those lifeless roots suddenly speak, resounding with proverbs, ancient poems, and ancient stories. He has customers of all classes, but the most are still Chinese. There are sets of tables and chairs, elephants, and statues of Phuc-Loc-Tho; Twelve Zodiac Animals; Bamboo - Chrysanthemum - Pine - Apricot, birds, animals... to fairies, Buddha... or wooden paintings "Beautiful landscapes"... Those works are all transformed from rough stumps, solid roots brought back from the wild fields of Laos.

Coming to his house, you will be overwhelmed by the creative works of art and admired by the will of a son of Nghe An. Born in Cua Lo town, at the age of twenty, he traveled all the way to Ho Chi Minh City to learn the craft of fine woodworking. He said that when he looked at the driftwood works, he felt his soul relaxed, kind and could not get bored of looking at them; that is why he was determined to learn the craft. After finishing his studies, he returned to his hometown and applied the craft of woodworking and found it to be somewhat contrary, so he decided to travel all the way to Laos to make a living.

Wooden art products of Mr. Nguyen Dinh Chung.

During the first two years of working as a carpenter, he was always diligently looking for ways to make a living. While maintaining his profession, he also thought about how to rely on the strengths of the new land. Realizing that Laos was a land of vast forests and mountains, and that people had the habit of slash-and-burn farming, many tree stumps were burned and abandoned; he thought he had to take advantage of this potential, turning the nothing into something, turning the useless into something valuable. So, with the profession he had learned, along with his intelligence and creativity, he built this business. Tree stumps and logs floating on the river were collected and crafted into items worth hundreds and thousands of dollars.

His products are durable, have excellent artistic value, and are influenced by Eastern legends combined with Lao culture, so they are very popular with foreign customers. That is why he exports dozens of containers of these products every year.

At the age of over 30, Nguyen Dinh Chung has built a massive business worth millions of dollars. Having done successful business in Laos, he always takes the opportunity to repay the kindness of his parents and relatives.

Chung has a tall figure, a strong Nghe accent; dresses elegantly, drives a luxury car like all the rich people in Vientiane. However, every day he still spends time struggling with the rough roots that have just been transported from the distant fields. His wife is the same, she is originally from Thanh Hoa, she seems to be satisfied with the results her husband brings, but all day she still works hard selling goods at Khuadin market, coming home late at night to pick up her children. And every day, it is around 8 pm that the whole family gathers around the dinner table.

Now, Nguyen Dinh Chung's fine art wood workshop has provided stable jobs for 20 Lao workers and 20 workers from Nghe An, with an average income of 8 to 20 million VND per month, depending on their skills. All workers are confident in their work and are committed to the workshop. Mr. Nguyen Van Linh, from Nghi Loc district, who has followed Chung to Laos for more than 10 years, said that there are many groups of Vietnamese and Lao master craftsmen here, with many different stages, but they all work very harmoniously, united in love and high efficiency. Vietnamese and Lao craftsmen each have their own creativity, when working together, they have created a fusion between the two cultures to have the best products to meet all the artistic requirements of customers. When we finished writing this article, a customer had already deposited a set of table and chairs made of tree roots worth 50 thousand USD.

National Day(VOV Vientiane)