Le Thanh Ha and the dream of Vietnamese Paper
An artist who is not messy; not fussy, pretentious or styled on the outside. But deep inside that person, is a soul that loves painting to the core. He longs to find the truth about the local paper-making methods, to create unique features on the paper of each region. In particular, he has gone “crazy” with a unique and novel line of paintings that he himself created. The Coconut Paper Painting Line!
Content:Khanh Nhu /Technique:Hong Toai• October 30, 2025
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An artist who is not messy, not fussy, not pretentious or styled on the outside, but deep inside, is a soul that loves painting to the core. He longs to find the truth about the local paper-making methods, to create unique features on the paper of each region. In particular, he has gone “crazy” with a unique and novel line of paintings that he himself created. The Coconut Paper Painting Line!
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Le Thanh Ha was born in 1978, grew up in Vinh city (old), graduated from Hue University of Fine Arts. Not choosing the smooth path of an urban artist, he wandered many places, carrying with him the desire to find "the true material of Vietnamese Paper".
And then, the land of Quang Nam - Da Nang, where the sun and wind blend with the simplicity of the people of the Central region, along with the rich traditional culture, sowed a feeling in his heart. Where every fierce storm passed, he witnessed the scene of people cutting down coconut branches lying in front of the sea. And the idea of making paper from coconut branches suddenly popped up in his mind like a destiny.
Paper, where people take their first steps into the world of words and emotions…
Paper also comes from mother earth and father sky.
Artist Le Thanh Ha
The way he talks about paper and coconuts makes it clear: To him, art is not just drawing, but a philosophy of life, a respect for nature and the traditional culture of his homeland and country.
The nickname “Crazy Ha” is the name given to him by his friends, colleagues and lovers of Coconut Paper paintings. Because it is this crazy, different personality that has created the mark and style of Le Thanh Ha. An artist who loves the countryside, is concerned with traditional products and diligently creates paintings containing Vietnamese cultural values from Coconut Paper. For Le Thanh Ha, tradition is always a story full of attractive magic. Keeping tradition means keeping one's soul and roots.
He began to draw his dreams and aspirations about traditional Vietnamese culture, about the unique beauty of Quang Nam - Da Nang on coconut paper that he researched and created himself. Le Thanh Ha's Coconut Paper Paintings are produced entirely naturally, so to create the works, these artists had to spend a lot of time and effort. From discarded dry coconut branches, Ha personally crafted each piece of paper. He learned the manual paper pouring technique of the H'Mong people in Mai Chau, combined with the Japanese Rakusui Washi water-based pattern printing method, then tirelessly experimented to create a layer of paper that is both thick and thin, and has light passing through it naturally like breathing. Each piece of paper is the crystallization of earth - fire - water - wind, of patience and knowledge, of love and foolishness.
But because of that, Ha's paintings have many differences. Not only is it different in the way it is made completely naturally, without chemicals or industrial dyes, but it is also different because Ha has drawn special things on it. One of the important themes in the paintings is portraits of famous people and historical figures of Vietnam and the world. To depict a portrait on coconut paper is difficult, and a portrait of a historical figure is even more difficult and also picky about the audience... But Le Thanh Ha has overcome all to do things that she believes will bring value.
For Le Thanh Ha, Vietnamese Culture always has a strange attraction. He creates and puts the lotus image into his paintings from all angles. He puts the image of a dragon in his paintings, but not a Chinese style dragon, but the dragon patterns of the Ly, Tran, Le dynasties of Vietnam...
Ha is doing something meaningful and rare - bringing back Vietnamese history and culture through industrial art, using Vietnamese materials.
Painter Truong Bach Tuong - Member of Da Nang Fine Arts Association
Perhaps the eccentricity and love for the homeland that is in the blood of the Nghe people, combined with the artist's quiet and romantic soul associated with Hoi An Ancient Town, associated with the unique cultural features of Quang Nam - Da Nang, has brought enough strangeness into Le Thanh Ha's paintings. Strange from the materials to the way of making, strange from the subject to the way of expression and strange because in today's hurried and chaotic life, there is an artist who is quiet and slow with his passion and creative philosophy.
Indeed, the strangeness is most clearly shown when Le Thanh Ha opened a workshop to produce Coconut Paper paintings and is willing to let everyone come in to experience and try for free. Whoever wants to learn, he is willing to teach and teach for free. Willing to pass on all the secrets that he spent countless hours and intelligence to research and explore.
“Passing on a profession is also creative,” he smiled gently.
His students are now in Mai Chau, Ben Tre – where people have opened their own “My Hometown Paper” workshop, preserving the techniques he passed down. For Ha, the happiness of a creator is not only having beautiful works, but also seeing their story continue.
For Le Thanh Ha, traditional art always needs to be created and preserved. Each line of painting, each type of material will produce unique and different products. Regional characteristics also play an important role, contributing to enriching that culture. Therefore, promoting the new in traditional art always requires knowing how to preserve the quintessence of the old. From that same thought, Le Thanh Ha's Coconut Paper paintings always create a difference and have a certain meaning. The art in his works is not only a harmonious combination of ideas, colors, and patterns, but also reflected by the penetrating light and the sublimation of the artist's emotions. Therefore, although it is a fairly new line of painting, and is naturally handmade, so the price is a bit higher than other works, Le Thanh Ha's paintings have quickly become known to art lovers.
In 2019, Le Thanh Ha’s Coconut Paper paintings were selected to be exhibited at the World Buddhist Fine Arts Exhibition – Vesak Festival. Since then, his paintings have appeared in many spiritual works: Linh Ung Pagoda, Bat Nha Pagoda, Ngu Hanh Son scenic spot… spaces that require tranquility and sophistication.
Many international artists know him through exhibitions: French artist Sautel Cago came to Vietnam, visited his Coconut Paper workshop, toured and experienced with the hope of being able to cooperate with Ha to create some of his works on this special paper.
During a visit to Vietnam, I met an artist and learned about the very Vietnamese coconut paper painting style. I found it interesting and also really liked the technique of creating this style of painting, so I really wanted to meet Artist Ha to experience it and wanted to collaborate with him to make some paintings on Vietnamese coconut paper.
French painter Sautel Cago
Without noise, without much PR, the Coconut Paper painting line still quietly goes out into the world with its own uniqueness, a handmade product but with a modern spirit, encapsulating Vietnamese identity and spirituality. Looking back at Le Thanh Ha's journey, one can clearly see the appearance of a"Nghe An scholar" in modern times:A bit crazy, a bit dreamy, but persistent and sincere to the end. He doesn't consider himself a person looking for fame, but a person looking for identity.
Paper was born to contain words, aesthetics and memories. I just want to return paper to its true mission – to tell the stories of the land and people of Vietnam.
Artist Le Thanh Ha
Nowadays, while many people rush to pursue technology and commercialize art, Le Thanh Ha still slowly moves with coconut paper, persistently following his own path. He not only creates a new material, but also awakens cultural memories in each viewer, so that each coconut paper becomes a piece of Vietnamese land incarnated.
If someone asks “Why do people call you Crazy Ha?”, perhaps just looking at him diligently working on his work, watching the coconut powder gently spread under the sunlight – will have the answer. That “craziness” is not noisy, but genuine, persistent, and contains within it the pride of a Vietnamese artist: Taking the soul of the homeland as the source, taking the earth and sky as the color, and using his own hands as the bridge connecting the past with the present and the future.
