A space for artisans from across the country to showcase their products and skills will be the highlight of the eighth Huế Traditional Craft Festival from April 26 to May 2.— Photo qdnd.vn

HÀ NỘI — A space for artisans from across the country to showcase their products and skills will be the highlight of the eighth Huế Traditional Craft Festival from April 26 to May 2.

With the theme “The Quintessence of Vietnamese Crafts”, the festival will honour the value of heritage and raise the production quality of traditional trade villages.

Various trades will be featured including embroidery, bronze casting, Zèng textiles, paper flowers, sewing, essential oils, lion dancing and pottery.

The event will forge connections between trade villages and investors, and promote traditional handicrafts alongside tourism products.
The organisers confirmed the festival would have the participation of 350 artisans from famous craft villages nationwide and 17 international delegations from 11 countries such as South Korea, China, Japan, Brazil and Turkey.

The foreign artisans will introduce their crafts of making pottery, masks, bamboo/rattan objects and costumes.

“This is an opportunity for artisans to show their talents and the quintessence of Vietnamese traditional crafts,” said Nguyễn Văn Thành, head of the organising board.

“It’s a high-quality, effective event in both a national and international scope and will help contribute to promoting the image of Huế and develop its traditional craft villages and handicraft sector.”

“This fabulous cultural-economic event will extol the values of heritage, and boost the production and efficiency of traditional crafts. It is also expected to promote partnerships and attract investments in an attempt to improve socio-economic growth via links between handicraft production and tourism.”

The festival will bring together various programmes such as exhibitions and introducing traditional products of domestic and foreign traditional crafts; the rite to commemorate the patrons of all crafts; the procession honoring artisans and craft villages; áo dài fashion show with designs by Minh Hạnh, Diego Cortizas from Chula brand, Ngọc Hân and Hà Duy; and a gastronomy festival.

The Fiesta “Colours of Childhood” will take place at the Huế Children’s Cultural House, 8 Lê Lợi Street. It will feature music concerts and other community activities to inspire children to be proud of their traditional crafts and cultural heritages.
A Hot Air Balloon Festival showcasing performances from Việt Nam, the Netherlands, Thailand, Japan and Malaysia will be held on April 27-29 at Hàm Nghi Court.
In addition, visitors to the festival can join tours to craft villages, crafts spaces and historical places such as the Royal Citadel, Thanh Tiên Village (paper flower), Sình Village (folk paintings) and Phước Tích Village (pottery). Organised biennially by Huế's People’s Committee, the festival is a part of activities to celebrate the 230th anniversary of King Quang Trung (Nguyễn Huệ)’s victory against the Chinese Qing invaders (1789), the 120th anniversary of the establishment of Huế (July 12, 1899), and the 120th anniversary of Đông Ba Market and Trường Tiền Bridge, two remarkable feats of architecture in the city. — VNS