Working through the night, orchid arrangers earn a lot of money during Tet.
(Baonghean.vn) - Starting in the twelfth lunar month, orchid stalls in Vinh City are bustling with activity. Orchid growers are busy day and night shaping and potting orchids for customers. In return, some highly skilled growers earn tens of millions of dong per day from this seasonal profession…
For about the last ten years, people have been very fond of Phalaenopsis orchids for Tet (Lunar New Year) celebrations. Besides their vibrant, eye-catching colors and long-lasting beauty, each orchid pot is a work of art arranged by skilled florists. Starting in the twelfth lunar month, the Phalaenopsis orchid market in Vinh City becomes very lively. Therefore, orchid arrangers work non-stop.
Most of the orchid arrangers come from Da Lat, Ho Chi Minh City, Hue, Hanoi, and Thanh Hoa to Vinh through agreements between flower shop owners. Ms. Pham Thi Thuy, owner of three orchid shops in Vinh, said: “This Tet season, I had to hire 10 main arrangers and 20 assistants to arrange orchids according to customer requests. In previous years, I hired arrangers from Hue and Da Lat. This year, I found arrangers from Thanh Hoa and Hanoi. Main arrangers are paid per stem they arrange, ranging from 20,000 to 30,000 VND per stem; assistants are paid by the day or per product.”
According to Ms. Thuy, some of the main workers earn 3-5 million VND per day, depending on their productivity. Some workers can pocket hundreds of millions of VND just during the Tet orchid season (which lasts about 15-20 days).
Nguyen Van Hai (from Thanh Hoa), who traveled from Thanh Hoa to Nghe An to assemble orchids for Ms. Thuy's business, said: "Last Tet, working at full capacity for 15 days, I earned nearly 100 million VND from assembling orchids. On peak days, I could assemble 200-300 pots into pots, driftwood, bamboo... Each pot was paid 20,000 VND, which works out to 5-6 million VND per day."
According to Hai, orchid arrangement is a seasonal job that can be very lucrative, but it requires creativity, a high level of artistic thinking, knowledge of orchids, and understanding of feng shui... In particular, the arranger must be patient, meticulous, and careful in their work. Creating a beautiful orchid arrangement takes considerable effort.
"Each craftsman has their own way of arranging the plants, depending on the customer's taste and requirements. However, they must meet standards regarding color, symmetry, feng shui, and the meaning of the arrangement. Depending on the different materials (ceramic pots, driftwood, or bamboo), the arrangement methods will vary," Mr. Hai explained.
From the 15th day of the 12th lunar month onwards, the market for phalaenopsis orchids becomes bustling. People buy many orchids to display during Tet (Lunar New Year), so orchid weavers have to work at full capacity, racing against time, sometimes working through the night.
Nguyen Tran Xuan, an orchid arranger from Da Lat, said: “This is my fifth year coming to Vinh to arrange orchids for orchid shop owners. This Tet season, I accepted orders to arrange orchids for three establishments in Vinh. On average, I arrange about 200 orchid pots a day, earning 5 million VND in wages, with food and accommodation provided by the owners.”
"But to 'pocket' 5 million dong, I have to work 20 hours a day. To complete the products for customers on time, arranging the orchids often lasts until 1-2 am."
As Tet (Lunar New Year) approaches, the demand for orchids increases, making orchid arrangers even busier. Due to the large workload, the artisans have to work at full capacity, being quick and agile, yet still meticulous and careful with every detail.
“These past few days, the warm, sunny weather has been bearable. Last week, it was bitterly cold. I came from Saigon, and I wasn't used to the weather, so I had to work hard, which was very tiring. Orchid arrangers like us are a creative profession that requires quietude. At night, there are fewer visitors, so we can focus more on our work. Therefore, we only sleep about 3-4 hours each night,” said Nguyen Nhat Quang, an orchid arranger from Saigon.
Although arduous, this seasonal work provides a high income for orchid weavers. Currently, in Vinh City, there are dozens of large-scale orchid businesses that import flowers from Da Lat and China and hire weavers to create arrangements according to customer requests. As a result, hundreds of orchid weavers are in their lucrative season, mostly from other provinces.