Thanh Yen carpenter talent

(Baonghean) - Thanh Yen carpentry village (Thanh Chuong) is famous far and wide for its skilled craftsmen, specializing in making sophisticated handicrafts. Recognizing this as the local strength, many families have joined together into groups and teams of craftsmen to undertake projects to build wooden houses, family churches, communal houses, pagodas, etc., opening up a new direction for the traditional carpentry profession.

In the late afternoon sun, we made our way to Thanh Yen carpentry village, Thanh Yen commune. At the entrance of Mr. Bui Van Nuom's house (Yen Long hamlet), we heard the sound of chisels and carvings. Mr. Nuom was working while guiding and instructing the young workers. Over a bowl of green tea, Mr. Nuom said: "I am 75 years old this year but I still like to chisel even though my children advise me that it is time to retire. Counting to me, my family has had 4 generations of carpenters. In the past, from the time when the elders often carried saws and chisels to "earn a living" for the world, but in my father's generation, he only lived in the village by carpentry. Over the past ten years, the economy has developed, the demand for wooden houses has increased, so Thanh Yen people have revived their ancestral profession. To complete a wooden house takes a lot of work, first of all, it is necessary to choose straight, symmetrical trees to build pillars. When it comes to carving, in addition to the delicate factor, it is also necessary to have a certain understanding of the rules of the sculptures. For example, for a wooden door in the style of a table, if you carve a pine tree, it usually goes with a crane, a mai tree with a starling, a chrysanthemum tree with a butterfly... ".

Not far from Mr. Nuom's house is the workshop of Mr. Bui Chi Hieu (Yen Son hamlet) bustling with the chiseling sounds of the workers. Mr. Hieu's workshop is considered the most skilled production facility in the commune, difficult products requiring sophistication such as bowls, incense altars, scrolls, horizontal lacquered boards, parallel sentences, votive doors... are all ordered here. Mr. Hieu said: "People often build a church of 2 to 3 rooms with xoan, jackfruit and lim wood. The characteristic of wooden houses is that they rarely use screws, instead they use mortise and tenon to assemble. Therefore, the craftsman must have a firm grasp of the chiseling technique so that the mortise and tenon fit together. The most difficult step is taking the ruler, before doing it, the craftsman must "draw" in his mind that piece of land, that requirement, then he must build the structure with what proportion to make it harmonious and beautiful. This profession, if simply being diligent and patient is not enough, but also requires creativity to sketch out the graceful lines on each grain of wood. A diligent craftsman needs at least 5 years to master the profession."

Mr. Bui Chi Hieu's fine art wooden furniture production facility is in Yen Son hamlet, Thanh Yen commune (Thanh Chuong).

In Thanh Yen commune, when talking about skilled craftsmen, we must mention the brothers Dinh Bat Cat and Dinh Bat Binh in Yen My hamlet. For many years, the two brothers have restored many family churches everywhere... Dinh Bat Cat's carpentry workshop is quite large. Entering the carpentry workshop, there are piles of large wooden trunks, as big as a person's embrace, that have been marked and prepared to be cut to make houses... With experience "memorized" since the time when his hair was still in a tuft, Mr. Cat always dreamed of building ancient-style wooden houses himself to preserve the delicate talent in decoration, as well as the way of using wood of the ancients. Therefore, as soon as he realized that there was a market for wooden houses, he gathered capital and recruited workers to build houses. In more than 30 years of working in carpentry, he has designed, built, and restored dozens of churches in Vinh city, Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan, Nghi Loc, Dien Chau, Quynh Luu districts... and neighboring provinces. According to Mr. Cat, in addition to solid skills, the craftsman must also have a keen eye in choosing wood, looking at the grain to predict the life cycle and age of the tree. The material chosen is usually jackfruit wood, because it has beautiful grain color, is durable, and is termite-free. The selection of raw materials is also a meticulous process, the jackfruit tree must be planted on fertile land, all the way to Phu Quy or in "good" lands. Completing a church with ancient architecture costs about 10m3 of wood or more, depending on the scale of the design; from the customer's request, from the design of the main hall, the sanctuary... to 6 or 8 roofs, the craftsmen of Thanh Yen village can handle it all.

To prolong the life of the house, the craftsman must apply modern techniques, handle the anti-termite stage right when preparing to erect the columns and under the floor before laying the bricks for the foundation and flooring. In addition, the house versions and architectural space perspectives are all stored by the craftsman with their own software to facilitate the introduction, calculation of ratios, prices with customers... With this method, the time to complete a house has been shortened by half compared to before.

According to statistics, Thanh Yen commune has more than 20 workshops producing civil wooden furniture such as beds, cabinets, beds, tables and chairs, etc., with more than 10 households forming groups of workers (each group of workers has about 8-15 people) specializing in undertaking wooden house projects in and outside the province. The production cost of each wooden house is at least 600-700 million VND, sometimes up to billions of VND, depending on the area and wood material; the average wage for a team of workers is from 200,000 VND - 250,000 VND/day, while the skilled workers earn about 350,000 VND/day.

Mr. Nguyen Canh Dien, Vice Chairman of Thanh Yen Commune People's Committee said: "Currently, carpentry is providing jobs for over 500 workers, with an average annual revenue of about 100 billion VND; in the first 6 months of 2015 alone, the value of handicraft production in the commune reached more than 18 billion VND. The development of traditional carpentry has contributed to improving people's lives; the rate of well-off and rich households now accounts for 65%, the rate of poor households has decreased from 21% in 2010 to 0.6% in 2014. In the coming time, we will develop a project to plan traditional carpentry villages.

Leaving Thanh Yen carpentry village, the bare-backed young men are still diligently chiseling with the belief and aspiration not only to bring high economic efficiency but also to contribute to "making a name" for their brand through ancient-style architectural works that are well received by many customers.

Ngoc Anh