The skilled carpenter

(Baonghean) - Although he didn't receive any formal training, Mr. Nguyen Van Quang from Hamlet 4, Quynh Ba Commune (Quynh Luu District) has a natural talent for carpentry. Each of his products embodies the heart and soul of a skilled carpenter...

The craft of carving and sculpting is a strength of provinces like Nam Dinh, Ha Tay, and Bac Ninh. In Nghe An, there are many woodworking villages and many woodworkers, but besides processing and assembling the basic parts, the remaining tasks such as carving and sculpting are mainly outsourced to craftsmen from the North. However, Mr. Nguyen Van Quang's fine art woodworking workshop is completely different because all stages of the craft, from sawing wood, assembling, carving, and sculpting, are handled by the hands of the craftsmen in the village. Even more remarkably, the exquisite designs on high-end products such as decorative clocks, wooden cabinets, tea cabinets, and wooden paintings are all created by Mr. Quang alone. Not keeping the craft to himself, he has successfully passed on his skills to the craftsmen in his workshop.

Mr. Quang and the craftsmen are cutting and carving the products.

Mr. Quang's carpentry workshop has been in operation since 1991. He himself entered the trade by "learning on the fly" after working for other carpentry workshops in the area. When the workshop first opened, it faced many difficulties due to limited capital and unfamiliar customers; he mostly had to buy used items and rework them. The idea of ​​establishing a fine art carpentry workshop began to take shape after he visited carpentry workshops in Ha Tay province. Even more boldly, starting from someone with no knowledge of fine art carpentry, carving, or sculpting, he taught himself to draw and create, becoming someone who could complete every step of a high-end wooden product. Customers in the area gradually came to know his workshop for its high-quality, beautiful, and luxurious wooden products at only two-thirds the price of those imported from the North.

Moreover, consumers are very fond of the products designed by Mr. Quang himself because they have a unique identity and suit the concept of beauty of the people of Nghe An. Recalling those early days of starting his business, Mr. Quang confided: “I was a demobilized soldier, so when I returned to my hometown, I was very confused and didn't know what to do to make a living. Choosing carpentry was actually a gamble for me because everything started from scratch (no formal training, no capital, no mentor, and the market was also zero). But I love this profession and the more I'm involved, the more I love it, especially when the handcrafted wooden products I create are well-received by consumers…”

Not only is Mr. Quang talented in product design, but he is also bold in business and enjoys exploring new things. Currently, with over 40 employees, all well-trained and capable of performing many difficult techniques, his workshop is fully capable of handling large orders. Wanting to expand, he invested over 1 billion VND to purchase two CNC cutting and engraving machines to engrave patterns on wood surfaces entirely by machine. Furthermore, facing the ever-increasing demands of the market, in addition to constantly improving product designs, he has expanded his workshop from one to four and invested hundreds of millions of VND in purchasing machinery and equipment such as saws, cutting machines, and air compressors to be more proactive in his work.

To operate the machine, he sent his workers to learn computer technology and also invited engineers who graduated from Hanoi University of Architecture to provide technical support. He himself continued to handle the drawing and design. Since acquiring the machine, the workload has increased threefold compared to manual work, and many other carpentry workshops in the area have sought his services for carving. As a result, the products are more diverse and much cheaper than before. Speaking about his employer and his current work, Nguyen Van Hai – a designer who graduated from Hanoi University of Architecture – shared: "Although I received formal training and graduated from architecture school, I have to learn a lot from Mr. Quang, especially in designing and drawing fine art wood products."

Một điều khác cũng rất đáng trân trọng ở cựu chiến binh Nguyễn Văn Quang là ông luôn có ý thức đào tạo nghề và tạo việc làm cho lao động trong vùng. Chính bản thân ông Quang cũng không nhớ mình đã dạy nghề cho biết bao nhiêu lao động. Nhiều trường hợp được ông nuôi dạy từ nhỏ, truyền nghề và cho vay vốn để thành lập xưởng. Nhiều người đã đi học các trường đại học, cao đẳng nhưng sau một thời gian không tìm được việc làm lại tìm về ông để được ông dạy nghề và xin vào làm việc ở xưởng. Ông cũng rất say mê với công tác xã hội, hằng năm, ông đều dành một khoản tiền nhất định để trao quà cho người cao tuổi, học sinh nghèo và gia đình chính sách; tài trợ cho giải bóng đá, các hoạt động văn hóa, văn nghệ của địa phương. Ông Nguyễn Thanh Tùng, Bí thư Đảng ủy xã Quỳnh Bá chia sẻ: Mỗi năm, xưởng mộc của anh Quang tạo việc làm cho hàng chục người với thu nhập từ 4 - 7 triệu đồng/tháng. Không những thế, anh Quang còn là một tấm gương về sự kiên trì, bền bỉ, chịu khó làm ăn và đây thực sự là một cựu chiến binh gương mẫu rất đáng để nhiều người học tập và noi theo, đặc biệt là với các thế hệ trẻ.

My Ha