Journey from passion to 3-star OCOP product

Some fine art wooden products of Anh Khoi Wooden Furniture Factory are displayed at the OCOP product introduction and sales point of Cai Lay Town.

Recalling his early days in the woodworking industry, Tri shared: “After leaving school in 7th grade, I decided to learn mother-of-pearl inlaying at a relative’s woodworking workshop in the hamlet. After nearly 7 years of diligent study, I gradually became familiar with the delicate lines and sparkling mother-of-pearl pieces, and then returned home to receive mother-of-pearl inlaying for altar cabinets, tables and chairs, etc. for woodworking workshops in the area.”

Despite devoting all his heart to the mother-of-pearl inlay profession, Tri still could not avoid disappointment. “At that time, I received processing orders for many establishments on a pay-later basis. But many places did not keep their “word of honor”. The processing fee was not paid on time, and some places even owed processing fees, so I decided to turn to the wood trading path after about 7 years of working in the mother-of-pearl inlay profession,” Tri recalled.

After about 2 years in the wood trade, Mr. Tri bought wood in Binh Phuoc province and sawed it into various sizes to sell to local carpentry establishments. While delivering wood to customers, he noticed that many people were very successful in turning wood. This motivated him to research and learn wood turning on social media, a completely different field from the mother-of-pearl inlaying profession he had previously pursued.

Not only did he learn wood turning by himself, Tri also showed his creativity when he tried to make a wood lathe by himself. Since 2015, he started making wood turning with simple products such as: wooden vases, wooden fruit plates, wooden tea pot covers, wooden altar lamp stands, etc.

Mr. Tri is installing the flowers on the altar.

After mastering his craft, he continued to conquer more complex products such as: Double-handled sofas, double-handled stairs, three-poster staircases, flower-shaped altar cabinets, wooden calligraphy paintings...

According to Mr. Tri, wood turning requires meticulousness like mother-of-pearl inlay. However, the lathe worker needs to be able to hold the knife skillfully to create smooth lines; at the same time, he must have creativity to turn rough pieces of wood into sophisticated works of art.

The process of turning wood has the following basic steps: cutting, peeling, drying the wood, then turning, then leaving it for 4-5 days to remove all the resin from the wood, and finally painting the finished product with PU. Currently, his facility produces more than 8 fine art wooden products to meet market demand.

In particular, during the recent Lunar New Year 2025, his facility launched new products such as calendars, clocks and wall paintings, which he carefully researched from consumer trends on social networks.

After 10 years of hard work in the woodworking profession, Mr. Tri has achieved a proud achievement, which is the successful construction of a wooden furniture facility with sophisticated handicraft products. With the support of the local government, Mr. Tri boldly registered 2 dedicated products: "Wooden calligraphy paintings" and "Natural wooden vases" to participate in the One Commune One Product (OCOP) Program.

And joy came to him when these two products were recognized by the People's Committee of Cai Lay Town as 3-star OCOP products at the town level at the end of December 2024, contributing to raising the value of local fine art wooden products.

Currently, Mr. Tri is both the main worker and the facility operator. In order to meet the high market demand during holidays and Tet, he also flexibly hires 2-3 seasonal workers, with a salary of 350,000 VND/day, contributing to creating more jobs for local workers during their free time.

In the coming time, Mr. Tri plans to develop his facility in the direction of finding potential woodworking products; at the same time, constantly improving his skills to meet the increasingly high aesthetic tastes of customers.

In addition, he hopes that authorities at all levels will pay attention and create conditions for establishments to invest in laser wood lathes, in order to increase productivity, reduce costs and create products with high precision and sophistication, meeting market demand for popular items at affordable prices.

ANH TU - HA NAM

Source: https://baoapbac.vn/kinh-te/202503/hanh-trinh-tu-dam-me-den-san-pham-ocop-3-sao-1038321/