Silkworm reeling in a workshop in Cổ Chất Village. VNA/VNS Photo

NINH BÌNH — Once fraying at the edges, the centuries-old silkworm reeling and weaving craft of Cổ Chất Village in Ninh Bình Province is spinning a fresh future as artisans revive traditions and reach international markets.

Nestled on the banks of the Ninh Cơ River in Ninh Giang Commune, the village has long enjoyed fertile alluvial soil ideal for mulberry cultivation and silkworm raising.

“The silkworm weaving profession here has been established for a long time. During its prosperous period, over 90 per cent of the village’s households followed the profession,” said village head Dương Duy Lâm. “The craft village created jobs and high income for the local people.”

The trade declined after 2010 as industrial-woven fabrics flooded the market, leaving traditional workshops struggling to compete.

But in the past three years, demand for natural silk has grown, breathing life back into looms and livelihoods. 

Đoàn Thị Huê, owner of a workshop employing 10 people, said: “I have been engaged in the traditional craft for more than 30 years, since all the production stages were made by hand, completely to modern machines now.”

“Since applying advanced technology in production, the productivity is higher, product quality is improved and production cost is reduced considerably.”

Her workshop now produces approximately one tonne of raw silk per month, which is exported to Laos and Thailand at a price of VNĐ900,000–1.4 million (US$34–53) per kilo.

Đoàn Thị Huê prepares silk fibres for export. VNA/VNS Photo

The family of Nguyễn Thị Yến is one of the households that has preserved the hereditary silk reeling profession in Cổ Chất Village.

To adapt to the market mechanism, in recent years, alongside regularly maintaining two to three kitchens with a capacity of more than 50kg of cocoons per kitchen a day to make silk, the family has also taken on the additional work of cutting cocoons to obtain pupae for sale to restaurants as food and medicine, creating jobs for about 20 local workers.

“In the past three years, seeing that the market favours pupae for food and medicine, my family has taken up the additional job of cutting cocoons to collect pupae,” Yến said.

“Maintaining both the silk reeling and pupae selling jobs helps people have more income when the market changes. This is also a way for families and production facilities to maintain the traditional profession left by their ancestors.”

Along with producing silkworm fibres, people also cut cocoons to get pupae that are used as food and medicines. VNA/VNS Photo

Branding Cổ Chất silk

It is because mulberry planting areas have been sharply reduced, competition is fiercer and labour costs are lower that many silk reeling and weaving households have had to switch to other professions.

To preserve and develop the traditional craft, in 2021, the village’s artisans established the Cổ Chất Silk Co-operative, then constantly researched and applied modern science and technology in production to create high-end silk products. 

“We found that if we continued to work manually, the products would become outdated and could not compete in the market,” said co-operative member Trần Thị Ngọc.

“Applying technology in production would help increase productivity and improve product quality.” 

In 2022, the co-operative’s traditional silk product, Chất Silk, was recognised as a four-star OCOP product by the provincial People’s Committee, which gave it a strong boost and created momentum for the product to reach a wider range of customers.

To build the Cổ Chất Silk brand, along with investing in technology to improve product quality, the co-operative also focuses on promoting its products on social networking platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and TikTok as well as increasing sales through e-commerce platforms.

In addition to exporting raw silk products to foreign markets, the co-operative also focuses on producing fashion garments made from natural silk. 

Phạm Thị Minh Hải, director of the Cổ Chất Silk Co-operative, said that today’s consumer trends increasingly favour fabrics and silk products of natural origin, so the co-operative constantly innovates and creates many products such as clothes, bed sheets, pillows and blankets made from 100 per cent natural silk to suit the tastes of modern consumers.

To preserve and further develop the traditional craft as well as help people feel secure in their work, the local authority has carried out several programmes to promote the village’s products, such as cultural-spiritual-craft village tours.

Vice chairman of Ninh Giang Commune’s People’s Committee Nguyễn Hồng Sơn said that developing Cổ Chất Village’s craft is one of the tasks of economic development. The locality has a plan for the craft village, maintaining mulberry growing areas and encouraging farmers to return to mulberry and silkworm farming.

At the same time, plans are underway to repair and upgrade infrastructure systems to develop craft village tourism, thereby helping people increase their income and creating motivation to continue preserving and developing traditional crafts, Sơn said. — VNS