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| Tricky work: A woman finishes up a mat. Mat weaving, while no longer a labour intensive process, requires a great amount of attention to detail. |
Viet Nam News
There was a time people in Phú Tân Village, in central Phú Yên Province, thought sedge mat weaving, the region’s traditional craft, was going to die out. The old production method was labour intensive and inefficient.
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| Brighten the home: Sedge is dyed various bright colours to make attractive patterns on final products. — VNA/VNS Photos Trọng Đat |
That was when several villagers decided to pool their resources together to set up machines to help them out with mat weaving. With an initial investment of nearly US$45,000, they were able to set up two machines and several years later the village has 10 machines working day and night.
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| Colourful: A corner of a mat weaving workshop in Phú Tân Village. |
“There is still a market for our hand-made products but most people prefer the machine-made ones. They are more durable and comfortable to use,” said Nguyễn Văn Phong, a villager who works one of the machines.
“They also require more material and therefore, more expensive. The hand-made mats are usually cheaper,” he added.
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| Traditional craft: Many of the village elders with decades of experience in mat weaving work and pass down their knowledge to younger generations. |
The 25-hectare sedge field is no longer enough to provide the village with material for mat weaving. The village has been buying sedge from nearby villages for a few years now. There are plans to increase sedge production to meet future demand by the mat weaving workshops. Local agriculture departments are working with farmers to expand the village sedge field.
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| Quality control: A villager elder closely inspects the quality of products before allowing them to be put on sale. |
The village’s mats were selected as one of the 13 traditional craft products to represent the province of Phú Yên. — VNS
